Just Your Regular Daily Chaos
by TheDragonLover
Summary: Mostly Humor. What happens when a Sonic fan makes a fancharacter, shoves her into insanity, and throws in a few official characters? This does. Is going to be rewritten completely, only two chapters left before completion.
1. Well, Hello!

Shadowpaw: Hey, guys! How are you? This is Shadowpaw and I will be your host for today's chapter.

Shadow: Darn...

Shadowpaw: (ignores him) My friend, Dragonluvr1993, is writing it mostly from my view, so you'll hear a lot from me. Now I hope you enjoy it!

DL: (yells in background) Hey! Disclaimer, guys!

Kussia: Sonic andthe music and books that she puts in her storiesdo not belong to her. The only things that _do _are the plot, setting, and her and her friends' characters. The bios are on her look-up, and if you have any questions, ask.

Shadowpaw: Now that THAT'S done...

Shadow: Please review, because she feels sad when she checks her account and no one has reviewed. So, ENJOY!

CHAPTER 1 Well, hello…

The mall was normal, like any other mall. Well, almost normal; because it was home to the Sonic team. Okay, not home, you know what I mean.

Sonic was sitting on a bench eating a hotdog. He yawned and looked at Tails. He was playing Sonic Heroes with Knuckles on the portable PS2 Tails made. Tails smiled and punched the air. "Yes! I won again!" Knuckles sighed and put the controller down. Sonic smirked and yelled to them, "Maybe you would win, Knuckles, if you took off those huge gloves!" Knuckles growled, "Shut up!" Tails smiled. Nothing was out of the ordinary, other than the team.

Of course, the normality didn't last long. The ground started to shake violently, making several teenagers scream and run. Sonic and the others, though, just casually stopped bickering and looked around for Eggman, who was obviously the cause of the shaking. Who else would bother to come to a mall full of flirting teenagers if not Eggman trying to kill Sonic?

Suddenly, a giant robot with a drill on its front came out of the floor of the mall. Eggman stood up from his chair. "MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Hello, Sonic! Ready to admit you're doomed?" Sonic just yawned. Knuckles was already snoring, and Tails was reading a book, "How To Rid Your Mall of Pests". Eggman grumbled. "You! Listen to me! Give respect to your better!" Sonic looked around. "Who's that?" Eggman got angrier. "Aaargh! I'll get you for this!"

He got back into his robot thing-a-ma-jig and turned on the drill. Sonic yawned again and said, "This is getting old, you know. This 'I'm evil, fear me' gig? You need something new." Suddenly, they all heard a hissing sound. Sonic looked around. Something black shot out from behind a plastic tree and got onto the robot. It made a dent in the metal and scratched the paint. Eggman yelled, "No! I just got this waxed, you fools!"

Something gray fell from the ceiling and hit the robot's foot with some metal stick. The black thing hissed and jumped to the other foot and cut it off completely. The robot fell, and the gray blur (seemingly) flew to the cockpit and smashed the glass. Eggman yelled, "No, this can't be the end!"

He pressed a button, and he flew out on his little black egg thing and out the conveniently open front entrance. The gray and black blurs fell to the ground and looked at the Sonic team. The gray thing was a gray squirrel with gray eyes and an army vest on, who was taller than Sonic. The squirrel had two swords in his paws and sheaths at his side.

The black thing was a black cat with amber eyes, white paws and a white tip on her tail. She had her claws out and a flare in her eyes that made Sonic shuffle his feet. The black cat spoke first. "Who the heck are you?" Knuckles walked up to her. "We should be asking _you _that." The cat raised an eyebrow. Tails looked at the cat and squirrel. "So… who are you?"

The cat pointed to herself. "I'm Shadowpaw, and this is…"

"Kussia." (pronounced koossai)

"Right, Koumai."

"Kussia!"

"Whatever, Bowtie, now who was the fat dude? He made me drop my tuna sandwich." Sonic sighed. "That was Eggman, unfortunately. He's really full of himself."

Kussia nodded. "I can see that." Shadowpaw agreed. "Yeah, he acted as if he was the king of the world. Ya know him?"

Knuckles groaned. "Know him? We see him so often, he comes at a schedule now! Tomorrow he comes at 6:30 pm!" Shadowpaw snickered. Tails pointed at them. "Do you guys know each other?" Shadowpaw and Kussia looked at each other, and both said in unison, "Never met him." (Kussia said her) Kussia nodded slowly. "Soooo…what now?" Sonic shrugged. "Wanna get a bite to eat?" Shadowpaw clapped her paws. "Yeah! I'm hungry after kicking that fat moron's butt!" Kussia said, "Want to come over to my place? It's not far from here." Sonic shrugged again. "Sure. Let's go."

Shadowpaw, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Kussia walked out of the mall, chatting. Suddenly, Sonic ran behind Knuckles. Knuckles jumped. "What's the deal, Sonic?" Sonic shushed him and pointed over at the grocery store. Everybody followed his gaze, and everybody (except Kussia and Shadowpaw) groaned. Amy was walking out of the store, a huge tower of bags and boxes wobbling in her hands.

Kussia blinked. "And who exactly is _that_? 'Shopzilla'?" Shadowpaw smirked. "It looks like she could use some help." She walked over to her. Sonic tried to call her back, but she was already across the parking lot. She got in front of Amy and knocked on the pile. Amy stopped. She said muffled, "Who is it?" Shadowpaw yelled into the towering pile, "Do you need any help?" Amy yelled back, "Yes, that would help a lot. Thank you!"

She picked it up and gave it all to Shadowpaw. Shadowpaw's knees started to shake, and she took careful steps towards the car Amy…wait, car? Amy walked over to the pink car and opened the door. Shadowpaw dumped everything in, and it all magically fit. She collapsed on the ground, panting. She saw a bunny looking down at her. Her vision focused, and Cream tilted her head. "Are you okay, Miss?"

Shadowpaw nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just helped Miss Shopzilla carry her things to her car." Cream frowned. "Car? You mean she turned sixteen already?" Tails came walking up, dragging Sonic. Sonic was yelling, "No, don't do this, Tails! I'll never forgive you! No, you can't make me! No!" Tails shook his head. "Quit whining, Sonic, we'll protect you."

Amy's ear twitched, and she looked at Tails. "Sonic? Where?" She saw Sonic shivering behind Tails. She smiled and started to run towards him, but Knuckles grabbed her and pulled her back to her…car… He shook his finger. "No, Amy, leave Sonic alone. Can't you see him stressing out?" Amy looked over his shoulder. Sonic was still hiding behind Tails. She sighed. "Aww…"

Kussia and Shadowpaw introduced themselves to Cream and Amy, while Knuckles and Tails tried to calm Sonic down. "You don't want Shadow to see you like this, do you?" Knuckles said, trying to get the point across. He wasn't really worried about Shadow; he was more worried if Rouge came and saw him. He would get laughed at for a month!

Tails sighed. "Well, come on, we might as well go to Koumai's house." Kussia crossed his arms. "It's Kussia." Tails shuffled his feet. "Sorry…" Shadowpaw whispered to Kussia, "Why's he so scared of Pinky?" Kussia looked into Amy's…car…and saw a Sonic plushie. He also saw a Sonic purse, Sonic shirt, Sonic sign, Sonic pillow, and a bunch of other things.

Kussia turned back to Shadowpaw. "I can think of a few reasons…"

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"Whoa…" Knuckles stared at the huge mansion. It was (in theory) about forty stories tall and had a hundred or more rooms. He looked at Kussia. "This is your house?" Kussia stared at him. "Doesn't everyone have a mansion?" Knuckles shook his head. "No, not really."

Kussia shrugged. "Oh well, that's life, now let's go eat!" Shadowpaw ran inside. Then, everyone heard a "what the" and a crash. Everyone ran in to see Shadowpaw face to face with Shadow.

"Uhhh…who are you?" Shadow stared at her, not coldly, but not cheerfully either. "My name is Shadow." Shadowpaw looked at the lamp she had knocked over when she turned around to see the black thing she had passed on her way to the kitchen.

She turned to Kussia. "I can fix that." Sonic finally got over his shock and found his voice. "What are you doing here, Shadow?" Shadow glared at him. "I was hungry and the window was open, so I decided to drop in and get a bite." Kussia looked nervously at Shadow. "Now when you say 'open'…"

Then, they heard footsteps from another room, followed by Rouge. When she saw the Sonic team, and Knuckles, she said sarcastically, "Oh, what a surprise seeing you here." Knuckles growled, "What are you trying to steal _this_ time, bat girl? A diamond necklace?"

Rouge glared and said, "You know, _Knuckles, _I do care about things other than jewels." Knuckles scoffed. "Like what, _boots?_" Rouge 'hmphed' and said, "If you're so interested, why don't you find out yourself?"

While they were bickering, Shadowpaw was interrogating Sonic about Shadow.

"How do you know him?" Sonic glanced at Shadow. "We've been rivals for a loooong time. You know, guns and fights and stuff."

"Right, I know, but why?" Before he could answer, Rouge yelled, "I am better than you, big hands!"

"Big feet!"

"Big nose!"

"Big-oww!"

Knuckles clutched his head, a little lumpy after multiple contact of a pair of hard and **sharp** boots. Rouge stomped away. Tails shook his head. "Wow, Knuckles, you really have a way with the ladies." Knuckles snapped at him. "Shut up!" Shadow shook his head. "And he still clobbers Eggman with that thick skull."

As Sonic and Tails were (trying to) stop Knuckles from getting into a fight with Shadow that he wouldn't win with just his anger, Shadowpaw slipped into a room. It was obviously a guest room. It was nice (not the walls) and comfortable, but it didn't have a real theme. The room had walls that were a kind of pale yellow, a bed with beige sheets, and a dresser. It was sort of livable, but not really decorated or furnished. Shadowpaw was so into the detailed design on the bedposts, she didn't see, or hear, Kussia come in.

"Like it?"

Shadowpaw jumped, then sighed when she saw him. "Don't do that, you almost gave me a heart-attack!" Kussia ignored her. "I haven't had enough time for all of the rooms, so it's not exactly…homey. But, with a little work, it could become your room."

Shadowpaw raised an eyebrow. "Are you inviting me or something?" Kussia shook his head. "No, no, I'm just saying it could become yours. Where do you live?"

"Uhhh…"

"I'll take that as a 'nowhere'. Well, that settles it. This is now officially your room."

"But I-"

"Sorry, gotta go and get the others rooms, really busy, bye!"

And with that, Kussia ran out of the room. Shadowpaw sighed. She looked around the room. _With a little work, it could be mine._

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Shadowpaw wiped her forehead. "There, that should do it!" She stood back and looked around her new home. She had painted the walls a clean white, and replaced the beige sheets with some black sheets and white pillows. (Complementing herself, obviously)She had put in random things in the dresser, since she didn't wear clothes that often, (she thinks her fur is enough) and a desk by the window. She was lucky to have a window; very few rooms had one.

After she had cleaned the room, she had hid a bunch of stuff (money, pendants, etc.) in places, and put a night table by the bed, with a lamp, clock, and journal on top. The journal was under lock and key, so she wasn't too worried.

She walked out of the room and shut the door to find Shadow standing, looking bored. She frowned and walked over to him. "Whatcha doing?" Shadow didn't even look at her. "What does it look like?"

"Looks like nothing."

Shadow rolled his eyes. "No way, detective, you should be on CSI."

Shadowpaw frowned again. "Are ya grumpy?"

"No."

"It sure looks like you are."

"Well, I'm not, so, there."

Shadowpaw shrugged. "Okay, whatever you say." She walked back to her room. She sat on her bed and started to read one of her favorite books, by Alan King, called "Help! I'm a prisoner in a Chinese bakery!" (real book) He always kept her smiling, even on a rainy day; nothing like humor to get a cat out of water.

When she was at the part when he critiqued about how adults are too serious about Little Leagues, she heard a knock on the door. "Who is it?"

"It's Shadow, now open the door."

She put the book down and opened the door. Shadow was standing there, looking at his shoes. He looked up. "Hey, I heard you cut up Eggman's robot pretty badly. How'd ya do it?" Shadowpaw smirked. "Easy. My claws are sharp."

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Everybody gathered around Kussia. He held up his…paws…and they all quieted down. He cleared his throat and said, "I would like to show you guys the party room! Please do not touch-" But everybody ran past him and into the room. It had millions of buttons on the walls, and tables surrounding a dance floor. Everybody gazed at it all, and Kussia got up and dusted himself off.

He walked over to a wall, and he pressed a button. A disco ball popped out, and he shook his head and pressed another button. A jacuzzi popped out, but before anyone could jump in Kussia pressed another button. A giant stereo popped out and dance music blasted from the speakers. He ran over and turned it down, after seeing how Shadowpaw and Tails and the others cover their ears. He walked to a table and sat down. Shadowpaw looked around and saw most of the guys just standing around, looking around.

She ignored the fact that she was doing just that and rolled her eyes. She walked over to Kussia and said, "Are there any other songs?" Kussia walked over to the stereo and pressed random. It suddenly blasted on 'Fatboy Slim – Kung Fu Fighting Remix' and everybody looked around, unsure of what to do. Shadowpaw also ignored the fact that Kussia _had _that song and walked to a table and waited.

Finally, as she was sure would happen, Shadow (she didn't think it was him, just for you to know) walked over there and sat down in front of her. They both sat there, looking at each other, before Shadow said, "Nice mansion, huh?" Shadowpaw nodded and looked around at everybody. Poor Sonic was being tortured by Amy pestering him, Tails and Cream were dancing, Rouge and Knuckles were both glaring at each other, and Kussia was…sitting.

Shadowpaw sighed and said, "This is the life! So _this _is how the other half lives!" Shadow looked at her questioningly, and she looked down. "Before this, I traveled from place to place. I've been to New York, Hawaiian beaches, the Himalayas, Mt. Everest, the works." Shadow raised an eyebrow. "You must have had a lot of money, then, huh?" She shook her head. "Nope! I hitched rides and sneaked on planes the whole time!" Shadow stared at her, but she kept going. "I remember when I went to that awesome theme park. I was with a few friends, and we didn't have any money, so we came in through the back and cut lines and everything!"

She sighed and closed her eyes. "That was the greater years of my life! But those dumb orphanage people kept following us, and got us one by one. It was horrible, watching them take someone else away, and we couldn't do anything!" Shadow nodded slowly, and she opened her eyes. "Have I been rambling again? I always do that when I remember the glory days." Kussia walked up to them. "'Glory days'?" Shadowpaw nodded. "Yep! They were the best years of my life, until…"

She stopped. Shadow and Kussia stared at her. "Until…?" She shook her head and said, "Never mind." Kussia and Shadow looked at each other, but let it slide; they'd get it out of her sooner or later. Shadowpaw looked around, and saw a photo booth. She blinked and ran over to it. Shadow and Kussia followed her to see what she was up to. She was studying the directions, standing right in front of the curtain.

Kussia formed a plan.

He positioned himself behind Shadow and aimed for the curtain. When Shadowpaw stood up and was about to walk in, Kussia pushed Shadow. He ran into Shadowpaw and they both landed in the photo booth. The camera flashed multiple times, and the pictures came out. The first two were blurry, then the next had Shadow on the seat looking down with Shadowpaw under him, looking up. They were staring at each other, shocked. The next two were the same, then the next one had Shadowpaw whipping up and throwing him off. The next had her arguing with Shadow, and the next one had them holding up their fist. The rest were blurry, except the last one having them sitting on the seat, panting.

Kussia snickered and pulled out the pictures and stuffed them in his pocket. He waited a couple seconds, and they emerged from the curtain, still arguing. Shadow shook his head. "It wasn't me, it was-" Shadowpaw interrupted, "If so, why were _you_ on top of _me_?" Shadow tried to defend his point, but in the end he gave up. She was too stubborn and wouldn't give up. Kussia stood there, leaning against the photo booth, whistling. Shadowpaw kicked the booth, then held her foot and hopped up and down. "Oww!"

Shadow glared at Kussia, but he ignored him. Instead, he went to the dance floor and tried to formulate a plan for Sonic and Amy…

Anyway, Shadowpaw sat down at the table, still fuming. Shadow sat down at a table behind her, and they both sat there, glaring at the opposite wall. Finally, Cream came over and stood next to Shadowpaw. She tilted her head. "What's wrong, Miss Shadowpaw?" Shadowpaw grumbled, but didn't reply. Cream frowned and saw Shadow. She skipped over to him and asked the same thing, except with 'Mr. Shadow'. She got the same reply, and she thought hard.

Then, she snapped her fingers and walked over to Shadowpaw. She turned her around to face Shadow. She had her eyes closed, so she didn't notice. She turned Shadow around. He just kept glaring. She walked to Shadowpaw and opened her eyes. She growled, but didn't do anything. Cream smiled and walked away. Shadowpaw watched her leave, and went back to staring at Shadow. They both didn't move. Finally, Shadow shuffled his feet, and Shadowpaw rubbed her arm. They looked away.

Then, Kussia turned on 'Hoobastank – The Reason' and walked over to a table not too far away from them. He waited. Shadowpaw twiddled her thumbs, and Shadow whistled. Soon, Shadowpaw yelled at Kussia, "Can you change that, please? It's annoying!" Kussia smirked and pretended not to hear her. She scoffed and looked at the ground. They sat there, nervously. Finally, they stood up and said, "Sorry…" They stopped and stared at each other.

Shadowpaw and Shadow both raised their right hand/paw. They raised the other. Finally, they both yelled, "Stop copying me!" They stopped and growled, "I'm not copying you!" They stopped again and yelled in unison, "Yes you are!" They continued at it, until Cream came over and smiled. The both looked at her and said, "What are you smiling about?" They glared at each other, and Cream giggled. "I guess Kussia was right after all!"

Shadowpaw and Shadow both looked at her. "What do you mean?" Cream smiled. "The ones who fight the most…" They stood there, blinking. Then, Shadowpaw started and stuttered, "What? I…Why would I…who does he think…no way!" Shadow blinked, and then he finally caught up. He looked at Cream and shook his head. "No, uh uh, no way! Why would I like her? She's crazy!" Shadowpaw glared at him and growled, "Excuse me? Look who's calling who crazy!"

Shadow crossed his arms. "Well, you are, 'Miss Kitty'!" Shadowpaw growled. "If you call me kitty one more time, I-" Shadow laughed. "You'll what? Purr me to death? Whatever…" He mumbled under his breath, "Kitty…" Shadowpaw hissed and tackled him. They scratched and kicked each other, and Cream stood there, smiling. "They must like each other a lot!"

_COMMENTARIES_

Shadowpaw: I'm gonna kill you, DL...

DL: What? I thought it was pretty good...

Shadow: I'll help you, Shadowpaw...

DL: Put down that hammer, Shadow. That's Amy's.

Amy: Give it back, Shadow! I need to knock out Sonic and tie him up!

Sonic: HELP ME!

Kussia: This is going nowhere fast.

DL: So, anyways, i hope you review! I worked hard to rewrite this, and i'd be really sad if it all goes to waste!


	2. New Arrival

Shadowpaw: Alright, here it is. Chapter three. DL is going to put a bunch of other stories.

Shadow: She is also making one that isn't on fanfiction, and she might give you a chapter or two to her loyal fans.

Shadowpaw: She is having trouble, though, because she needs some help in her fics, even some tips and flames. She'd love it, and so would I, if it stops her whining… Oh, hi, DL, how are you? Heh heh… Ummm, gotta go and-

Shadow: Read and review!

Shadowpaw: Hey, that's my line! Get back here!

Shadow: Okay, I have to runfor my life, bye!

_Dear journal,_

_I just got a new home! I finally have a place to call my own. I decorated it, and put everything I own into it. Of course, that's not much ;) Anyway, I met these people. One is a blue hedgehog who runs really fast! Another one's a black hedgehog with red stripes on his spikes. He was sour at first, but we talked about battling techniques. It was fun! Also, there's an orange furred fox named Tails. Well, his nickname's Tails, anyway. He's really smart. Then there's Knuckles, the red echidna with red dreadlocks. He has spikes on his knuckles of his gloves. He's a tough dude, man! There's also a gray squirrel, Kussia. He's the one who gave me the room. He's a little annoying, though. And last but not least, Rouge. She's a bat with courage. I mean, she wears boots with hearts on them, for goodness sakes! She must be brave to wear that…Anyway, those are the people, err, creatures I met. I wonder if I'll fit in this time._

_Shadowpaw_

Shadowpaw put the journal down and locked it. _Gotta be careful, ya never know._

Then she turned off the light and lay down.

Eventually, after her thoughts got sluggish, she fell into a dreamless sleep.

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"Hello? _Hello? _Wake up, Shadowpaw!"

Shadowpaw pulled the covers over head. Somebody pulled them off.

She crawled under the pillow and mumbled, "Leave me alone…"

Whoever the cursed rooster was picked up the pillow and said, "Wake up! Don't you want breakfast?"

Shadowpaw opened an eye. Shadow was crossing his arms, frowning at her.

She closed her eyes again and curled up.

"I'm tired."

Shadow tugged her tail. Finally she yelled, "Okay, okay, I'm up, see, I'm up!"

She slowly sat up and scrunched her eyes. The room was really bright.

She looked at the window.

It was open.

_Aaargh, curse me for picking the room with an eastern window!_

There was a rapping on the door. "Is anyone one in there?"

Shadowpaw yawned. "Yeah, I am, and I'm tired. Go away."

Kussia yelled back, "I'm gonna bring ya some pancakes, so you don't hurt me later for not trying to feed you."

"Yeah, whatever…"

Kussia walked in. He had a tray with pancakes and a cup of milk.

He stopped and stared at Shadow. He looked back at Shadowpaw, then at Shadow again. Finally he asked, "Why's he in here?"

Shadowpaw rubbed an eye. "He's torturing me with the rays of the sun."

Kussia frowned and looked at Shadow. "You know, she could have been-"

"Sleeping." Shadowpaw interrupted.

"Actually, I was going to say brushing your teeth, but I like your idea better."

He looked at Shadow again. "Okay, you should get out of her room now."

Shadow shrugged. "Fine, whatever." There was a moment's silence. Shadow just stood there.

"You know, when I said now, I meant NOW, not a few seconds from now."

Shadowpaw flopped onto her bed on her stomach. "Yes, please!"

"NOW!"

Shadow ran out of the room. Kussia sighed, then turned to Shadowpaw.

"You know, you should try to get up sooner, because the cleaning lady comes at 10:30 and if you're in bed she might put you in the dryer with the sheets."

"Yeah, right."

Kussia stood quietly for a moment, looked at his watch, and said aloud, "It's ten twenty-nine and fifty-eight seconds."

Two seconds later, a lady came out of nowhere and started bundling up the sheets.

Shadowpaw got up and walked over to Kussia. She took a pancake and shoved it in her mouth.

"Thiff ith ood."

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"Ith ood!"

"Ohh, okay…What?"

Shadowpaw rolled her eyes and gulped down the pancake. "Never mind."

Kussia shrugged. "Okay, whatever."

He turned to the cleaning lady. "Okay, Doris, you can go now."

The lady turned to him, nodded, and left. Kussia stretched.

"Well, I'll just leave you to yourself and your breakfast."

"Ciao."

Kussia walked out of the room. Soon, though, Shadowpaw heard something metal banging. (Cough ventilation shaft cough)

Kussia started climbing the shaft.

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Everyone was sitting in the living room watching the wheel of fortune. Except Kussia, who was looking at a notepad.

He mumbled. "Ok, let's see: Tails likes Cream, Shadow wants to kill Sonic, Amy mistook Shadow for Sonic once, and Cream likes Tails back."

He said out loud, "Wow, I didn't get much information this time.

Shadowpaw stared at him. "Okay, then…."

He looked at her and stammered, "Ummm, uhh, ummm…"

_Knock, knock, knock._

Kussia looked at the door. "Will somebody get that?"

"Why don't you?" Shadowpaw yelled back.

"Alright, fine."

Kussia walked over and opened the door. He suddenly looked a bit paler.

He was looking at a hazel-furred squirrel, about his size. She was standing at the door looking at him.

He started stammering.

Finally, he managed to form words. "Do I know you?"

Something dawned on him. He turned a bit red. (Through his gray fur)

"Weren't you at that party?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

Kussia stammered more and barely said, "What was your name again?"

She stared at him like he was crazy. "Peanut."

He was still red. "Oh, yeah, I remember you. How did you get my address?'

Peanut blinked. "You gave it to me."

"Oh, yeah, right…"

He took the time to calm down. He tuned to the others and said, "Hey, everybody, this is Peanut."

Everyone said in unison, "Hi Peanut."

"Okay, you can go back to watching TV now."

Everyone went back to the wheel of fortune. Kussia turned to Peanut again, still a little red. "Okay, I'll just introduce you to everyone separately."

He spoke in a tone only him and Peanut could hear. He pointed to Sonic. "That's Sonic. Shadow wants to kill him."

"That's Shadow, the guy who wants to kill Sonic."

"That's Tails. He likes Crème."

"That's Crème, she likes Tails back."

"And that's Shadowpaw, and pretty much every little thing makes her angry."

He looked at her. "So why are you here?"

"Well I saw the boarding house sign."

"What boarding house-oh, that sign."

He turned a deeper shade of red.

"Well, pick a room."

Peanut looked around, then pointed to a room _incidentally_ right next to Kussia's.

Kussia started to say something, then sighed and said, "Oh forget it…You know, that room is right next to mine."

Peanut shrugged. "So…?"

They were quiet. Shadowpaw walked over to them and said, "Hey, what happened? It's too quiet. And suspicious…"

Kussia bit his lip. "We're just, uhh, picking a room for Peanut."

"Which room?"

"The one next to mine."

Shadowpaw tried to stifle a laugh. She cleared her throat and tried to calmly say, "Okay, then."

Shadowpaw saw Kussia turn a bright red.

"What are you laughing-" He looked at Peanut. "About…

Shadowpaw looked around. "Oh, nothing, nothing."

Kussia closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them. A flicker of red flashed in them.

Kussia read Shadowpaw's mind. _Oh, I'm so gonna rub this in his face for a long time!_

Kussia groaned. "Why do you have to rub it in?"

Shadowpaw and Peanut both blinked. "What?"

Kussia looked at them. "Oh, sorry."

He pulled out a pair of red contact lenses from his pocket.

Shadowpaw blinked again. "I didn't know he had pockets."

"Oh, shut up. This is my secondary pair of EEVE. It let's me read minds, and other things, too!"

Shadowpaw looked at him nervously.

"Read minds?"

He scratched his head. "Well, to a certain extent. If the target I was mind-reading only thought one thing, it would be difficult to read. Oh, crud, did I just say that out loud?"

Shadowpaw sighed with relief.

Peanut snapped her fingers. "Oh yeah! I almost forgot!"

She ran out of the door. Kussia and Shadowpaw looked at each other.

They heard grunting, and saw Peanut dragging a bunch of suitcases and bags inside. It's a wonder it fit through the door.

"I need help unpacking!"

Shadowpaw took one look of the pile, then fainted.

Kussia mumbled. "Thanks for helping, Shadowpaw."

Peanut pulled him over. "Come on! We have a lot of work to do."

When they both disappeared into her new room, Shadowpaw stood up, brushed herself off, and walked back to the couch.

"Trick works every time."

_Commentaries_

Kussia: I never get tricked like that. I'm not stupid.

Shadow, Shadowpaw, and DL: (whistling)

Kussia: Why are you whistling?

Shadow: Oh, no reason…

Shadowpaw: Why would there be a reason?

DL: Just practicing my whistling…

Kussia: RIIIIGHT…and I'm supposed to believe that?

DL: Believe what?

Kussia: Never mind…

Shadow: Well, here's to the wonderful readers! I hope you guys review this!

DL: Me too!

Shadowpaw: Me three!

Kussia: Me…four?


	3. Super Christmas Shopping Spree

Tails- Hey, this isa present to all of you faithful readers, but you could call it aspring present or something like that, if you're more comfortable. This is when they go shopping and all that Christmas stuff. Well, I have to work on the Tornado. Bye!

"IT'S CHRISTMAS SHOPPING TIME!"

Kussia blew a whistle to get their attention.

"Alright everybody, listen up! I will give you a list, and you have to give AT LEAST that many presents to that person on the list."

He handed out lists to everyone. They were as follows:

Shadowpaw 3

Kussia 1

Shadow 2

Sonic 4

Tails 10

Amy 6

The rest were all threes. Shadow was mumbling darkly. "Two presents…"

Amy squealed, "Oooh, that's the _least_?"

Kussia turned to her. "But for you, Amy, you can only give Sonic up to six," He held up six finger-paw things. "Presents."

Amy whined, "Only six?"

Kussia nodded. "Yep, only six."

Shadowpaw was thinking hard. "Hmm, carry the two, add six… You know what? I'll just give everyone ten presents."

Tails was grinning from ear to ear. "AT LEAST ten presents each, which means…" He did the math in his head. When he finished, he grinned even wider, if that was possible. "AWESOME!"

Everyone ran off. Kussia yelled to them, "Wait! Don't you want the money?"

Everyone came back instantly. He handed out a million dollars to each person. "You can only have a million dollars, so spend it wisely."

"_Only a million dollars?_" Shadowpaw sat dumbfounded. _Wow, he **is** rich._

Then, everyone disappeared again. Shadowpaw went to the weapons store, Tails went to the flower shop, Shadow went to the bookshop, Amy went to Diamonds-R-Us, (poor Sonic) and everyone else went somewhere, too.

(I hate explaining things for too long)

Shadowpaw looked at the list. First was Kussia. "Well, he has swords, so maybe he'd like some magazines _about _swords."

She picked up a bunch of weapon magazines, then looked for something Shadow would like.

"Hmm, what does Shadow exactly like?" She frowned. She didn't really know what he'd like, so she was facing a dilemma.

She rounded a corner and saw Shadow himself. She quickly hid behind the corner and looked carefully from behind it, spying on him.

He was looking at a bunch of nice swords, but he was particularly looking at a nice, sharp sword with a panther engraved on the blade. He picked it up carefully and looked at it.

Shadowpaw carefully edged around the corner, walking very close to the shelves. She got behind Shadow, then ran for the next aisle.

Fortunately, she got behind the wall right before Shadow looked around. Unfortunately, he walked around to the exact same aisle.

She quickly went to the other end and stood behind the wall, so if he looked at either aisle, she'd be behind it and out of view.

He looked down the aisle, shrugged, and went back to the counter to buy the sword. Shadowpaw sighed. "That was a close one."

"What was a close one?"

Shadowpaw jumped and saw Kussia staring at her. She chuckled nervously and smiled.

"Oh, nothing, Kussia. Oh look, is that Peanut?" When he looked around, she ran down an aisle, then over to one three aisles away, and sank to the floor panting.

She got up, brushed herself off, and went to look for a present that Crème would love.

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It was Christmas Eve. Shadowpaw was really excited.

_I wonder what I got? Oooh, I can't wait until tomorrow! _She got out of bed and started pacing.

After a while, she got tired of pacing and sat down. Of course, she got up again a few minutes later and started walking around the room again.

Suddenly she heard banging on her door. She ran over and opened it. Shadow was standing there, yawning.

"Could ya stop walking? I can't sleep."

She looked at her feet-paws. (I call it what I will, leave me alone)

"Sorry…I just have insomnia tonight."

Shadow smirked. "I can see that. It sounded like there were elephants in here on a rampage. I do have a room right next to yours, you know."

She suddenly squealed and grabbed him and started dancing around, pulling poor Shadow in jerking motions.

"IT'S CHRISTMAS, IT'S CHRISTMAS, IT'S CHRIS-"

Shadow covered her mouth. "Shh! Do you want to wake everyone up?"

She shook her head. He took his hand off of her mouth.

"Well, then stop yelling. And let go of me!"

She let go of his arm and looked at the floor, trying to act as if she was admiring the rough carpet.

He rubbed his arm. "You have a strong grip, you know. Really hurts."

She looked up and smiled. "Thank you."

"You're not welcome."

She got energetic again, and started pacing the room. Shadow stood there, watching her. Finally he spoke up. "Are you even going to sleep tonight?"

She jumped, realizing he was still there. She shrugged. "I just can't go to sleep."

"Well, try."

"I did. For about three hours. I finally gave up at ten o' clock."

Shadow sighed. "You should try harder, you know…" He stopped.

There was an awkward silence for a few minutes. Shadow walked over to her.

"You know, if you don't sleep, you won't have enough energy to open all of your presents. I heard you're gonna get a lot."

Shadowpaw looked at him. "Really? That's odd…"

_No, it isn't._ Shadow thought as Shadowpaw started explaining about all of the bad things she's done. She did a lot of things, too, but that's probably why people like her; 'cause she does what she feels like.

Shadowpaw looked at the clock.

"Well, it's around midnight; I should try to go to sleep again."

Shadow nodded. "Yeah, you need to rest. It _is_ Christmas tomorrow, so you need to save all of that energy to attack me again and choke me to death."

Shadowpaw laughed, the first time in a couple of days. "I guess I'll go to sleep now and get some extra energy saved."

Shadow smirked. "Are you trying to kill me?"

Shadowpaw smiled. "Nah, I'm just in the Christmas spirit."

Shadow nodded. "Sure, well, you do that. I'll be ready, though."

"Good night!"

When Shadow closed the door behind him, Shadowpaw breathed out in relief.

She picked up her journal and wrote in a new entry.

_Dear journal,_

_It's Christmas Eve! Kussia gave us a million dollars a few days ago to spend (!) on presents for everyone. $$ I got ten presents for everyone. Somehow, Amy managed to spend exactly her budget, even with tax! She's good at shopping. Anyway, I got Kussia a bunch of weapon magazines, Shadow a bunch of new video games, Crème a bunch of Chao accessories, Knuckles some workout equipment, Tails a bunch of cheat codes and puzzles, Amy a bunch of Sonic stuff, and-did I miss anything? Oh, well. Right now it's 11:48. I had a talk with Shadow. I told him about that time I broke that girls project. I wish he could have seen her face! Well, I've written too much already, and I need to get to sleep. Good Night!_

_Shadowpaw_

After she was done writing, she put it down, locked it, hid the key, and got under the covers.

She got herself comfortable, and closed her eyes. In a couple of minutes, she was knocked out cold.

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Shadowpaw felt someone shaking her. That person was yelling, "Shadowpaw, wake up! Come on, Shadowpaw! Get up!"

She pulled the blanket back over her head and tried to sleep. But the same d- I mean, the same person, jerked the blanket. Unfortunately for Shadowpaw, she went with it.

As she held her head to stop the throbbing, the voice said, "Come on, everyone's already downstairs!" When she crawled back into bed, they added, "It's Christmas!"

Shadowpaw snapped her eyes open. She stared right into Shadow's face.

"Yaaaaah!"

She jumped and fell out of the bed again. She rubbed her tail, then jumped up and ran out of the room yelling, "It's Christmas, it's Christmas, it's Christmas, it's Christmas!"

Tails stumbled out of his room rubbing his eyes. "What…?"

Shadowpaw ran over to him and picked him up. "IT'S CHRISTMAS!"

Tails shook his head and smiled. "Oh, yeah!"

Shadowpaw dropped him violently and ran over to the living room. Shadow was already down stairs, since he had jet boots.

Shadowpaw ran over and squeezed him really hard. "IT'S CHRISTMAS!"

"Yeah, it's Christmas, great, now can you let me breath?"

She let go of him and ran to the tree. Before she grabbed a present, though, Kussia appeared in front of her and stopped her.

"Wait, we're going to take turns opening our presents." He held out an old black hat. "Pick a number, and you're that number in line."

Shadowpaw picked a paper and looked. It clearly said "3".

She punched the air. "Yes! Third time's the charm!"

Shadow walked over and picked a number. He smirked. "Seven's the lucky number!"

"Yeah, but that means you're seventh in line."

"Ah, darn it."

Shadowpaw waited patiently for everyone to pick a paper, and saw that Kussia was first, second was Sonic, then it was her, Amy, Peanut, Crème, Tails, Shadow, and Knuckles.

Poor Knuckles was last.

Kussia walked over to the tree. The presents had been neatly stacked into a pyramid, with everyone's presents in number order. Kussia got a ladder, climbed up and randomly picked a present.

It was put in black and white wrapping paper.

"Hmm, I wonder who this is from."

Shadowpaw looked down and shuffled her feet.

Shadowpaw had put all of her presents to everyone in black and white wrapping paper, which is why the pyramid was mostly black and white.

Kussia opened the package. "Wow, a box."

"Open the box, Kussia."

Kussia opened the box. It was a bunch of weapon magazines.

"AWESOME!"

Shadowpaw's fur was all blown backwards. She shook herself and patted down the matted fur.

Kussia opened the rest of his, and then it was Sonic's turn. He ran up and down the pyramid, holding a present in shiny blue wrapping paper.

After he opened it, he picked up a new Sonic game for Xbox. He yelled, "Cool!"

He proceeded to get more games, and six huge plushies from Amy, before he sat on the ground and played with his little action figures.

Soon, it was Shadowpaw's turn. She looked up at the pyramid, examining it carefully. "Hmm, one two three four, one two three…eight, one two……seventeen…"

She finally pointed to one, and Sonic ran up and knocked it down for her.

She put her ear up to it and shook it. "Hmm…"

She put up her paw, unsheathed her claws, and ripped the entire box open. She picked up and blew on her claws, then looked inside.

It was- "INUYASHA FEUDAL COMBAT FOR PS2!"

Shadowpaw picked it up and yelled in triumph. She put it down for a moment and got Sonic to knock down another present.

After a bunch of presents, she ended up with the previously mentioned game, a PS2, a bunch of famous novels, twenty bucks, a stuffed reindeer, that sword Shadow was looking at in the store, Zoids Battle Legends for Gamecube, a bunch of cool cds, a personal cd player, an Idog, a Gamecube, Digimon World 4 for Gamecube, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle for Gamecube, a toy Dark Chao, and a bunch of other stuff.

(Bunch of this stuff I got on Christmas, too!)

She picked all of the stuff and tried to drag it out of the living room to put it in her room. Unfortunately, it weighed more than twice her weight.

She struggled, but the bag wouldn't move. Finally, she dropped on the floor, panting. She rolled on her back and looked at the ceiling.

Shadow's face popped up. "Need help?"

She nodded, too tired to talk.

She got to the front again, and pulled the bag while Shadow pushed. They somehow managed to get it up the stairs and into her room.

She flopped onto her bed and said, "Man! That's a lot of presents!"

Shadow nodded, lying on the bed, too. "You got more presents than Sonic did!"

Shadowpaw stretched. "Man, I think I broke my back carrying that thing."

"I can't move."

Shadowpaw sighed. Shadow looked at her. "What?"

She turned to look at him. "'What' what?"

"What did you sigh for?"

"Nothing."

"No, really, tell me!"

"It's nothing!"

"Tell me!"

"It's nothing!" Shadowpaw jumped off of her bed and walked over to the dresser.

Shadow sat on the bed and watched her clean out one of the drawers and put all of her presents into it.

When she finally got it closed, he said, "What is it?"

She turned to him, angry. "It's nothing important, okay?"

She stomped off to her desk where her drawing book was. She picked it up and looked through it.

Shadow stared at the ceiling. "If it isn't important, why did you sigh?"

Shadowpaw sighed again, then she snapped her book shut and said, "Look, Kussia and them are probably wondering what you're doing. Why don't you go down there?"

Shadow sat up. "I want to know why you're so angry."

"I'm not angry!"

"Then why are you yelling?"

"I-Aaargh…" She crossed her arms and walked over to the window. She glared at a robin as if it was its entire fault she was fuming.

She stared out of it for a while, when she felt Shadow put his hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off.

She continued to glare outside, but she could still feel Shadow's presence. Finally, reason and impatience won the war.

She mumbled, "I've never had a real Christmas before."

Shadow asked, "Why? I thought you made friends?"

Shadowpaw looked at him and said, "I only made temporary friends, remember? And around Christmas time, I had to go. Whether it was because of danger, prejudice, or starvation, I had to move."

She looked back out the window. The robin flew over to a tree and started singing to a blue jay.

Shadow spoke up. "But you have friends now, right?"

Shadowpaw looked at him, puzzled, and said, "Friends?"

"Yeah, we're your friends now, right?"

She thought for a moment, then smiled. "Yeah, I guess so."

They looked out of the window for a moment, (Extremely sappy moment, sorry, couldn't help it!) until Shadow turned away and said, "Well, I guess I should go downstairs now."

Shadowpaw looked out of the window again. "Yeah…"

"After this, wanna play one of your new games?"

Shadowpaw nodded. "Yeah, sure. Later."

"Bye." Shadow walked out of the room. Shadowpaw smirked, then yawned and stretched. Boy, was she tired!

She walked over and crawled into bed. _Christmas and staying up last night talking to Shadow must have knocked me out._

She closed her eyes, still thinking about Shadow, and fell into a deep sleep.

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Shadow jumped into Shadowpaw's room. "Hey, Shadow-"

He snapped his mouth shut when he saw Shadowpaw sleeping. He carefully tiptoed to her bed and got next to her ear.

He took a deep breath and yelled, "HEY, SHADOWPAW!"

Shadowpaw screamed, jumped up and grabbed the ceiling with her claws. Shadow was rolling on the floor, laughing.

Shadowpaw glared at him. "Don't do that!" Shadow laughed even harder. Shadowpaw let go and gently landed on her paws.

Shadow tried to control himself. _Man, if looks could kill… _He got up, did a fake cough, and said, "Sorry, I couldn't help it!"

She glared at him. "Well, next time, don't."

"I'll try."

Shadowpaw yawned. "So, want to try out Inuyasha Feudal Combat? Or maybe you'd like Zoids, or maybe a sword fight?"

She walked over to the sheath and pulled it out. She looked at it and whistled. "This is a nice sword. And look at the panther!"

Shadow nodded. "Yeah, it was the only one there, too. I was lucky I got it."

Shadowpaw tested out a few swings. "It feels so light! I would think something made out of metal or whatever would be heavier."

(Note: the following junk I wrote I have no clue if it's true, so don't follow it; I wrote it for space consuming only)

Shadow walked over and pointed to the long blade. "Since it is made so thin and sharp, it basically cuts through the air like cheese. Unlike daggers, it is only used for either good close-combat fighters, or experienced sword throwers. I'd be careful, if I were you."

Shadowpaw trailed her paw down the panther engravings. "It seems as if it was fit for me!"

She smirked, and suddenly put the sword to his stomach.

"Draw!"

Shadow waved his hands. "But I don't have a sword!"

Shadowpaw picked up one of Kussia's spare swords and tossed it to him. "Use this; I'm sure Kussia wouldn't mind if you borrowed it."

Shadow caught it and raised it to eye-level. "Well, let's see who the better sword master is!"

Shadowpaw laughed. "May the best cat win!"

They ran, and metal screeched across metal. They were black blurs running and jumping around the room. Surprisingly, the room wasn't getting ripped to pieces.

Soon, the swords were pushed hard against each other. Shadowpaw smirked, and Shadow grinned back.

Suddenly, he dropped back and scratched Shadowpaw's cheek. She dropped the sword in pain.

Shadow put down the sword. "I guess the mighty cat isn't such a worthy challenger after all."

He turned around, but he heard a scuttle. When he turned, Shadowpaw's panther was on his neck.

Shadowpaw smirked evilly. "Never turn your back on your enemies."

Shadow smiled and shook his head. He dropped his sword and put his hands in the air.

"Well, you beat me. I surrender!"

Shadowpaw's smirk got wider, and she put her sword down. She grinned and turned her back on him.

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain on her head. Her paw shot up, and she looked at a blood covered paw.

She turned to Shadow, who was smiling in a battle position. "Look who turned their back on whom!"

She grinned evilly and got into a low crouch. They circled around, waiting for one of them to get careless and attack.

Finally, Shadow charged. Shadowpaw unsheathed her claws and ran towards him. When they met, they were scratching and punching and kicking.

But other people wouldn't know that, because they picked up so much dust (in a room) and made a perfectly good cartoon cloud fight.

Kussia walked in and saw the cloud. He walked over and suddenly picked up his sword and shoved it into the cloud.

They stopped fighting, both of them staring at the cold, sharp sword. They looked down, and gravity finally kicked in.

Shadowpaw got up and brushed herself off. When she saw Kussia, she stopped and glared at him.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was wondering what the ruckus was. What are _you _doing here?"

Shadowpaw crossed her arms and said, "I was having a perfectly good fight with Shadow, and I was winning, too, until you came along."

Shadow got up and yelled, "What! I was beating you by a mile! And you know it!"

Shadowpaw got up into his face and smirked. "If so, why weren't you hitting me?"

"What are you talking about? I was the one not touched!"

"Then what's that?" Shadowpaw pointed to a cut on his arm.

He covered it and said, "Nothing I can't handle. I can take your little scratches!"

"Oh, yeah? How about a haircut!"

While they were bickering, Kussia took his sword back and walked over to Shadowpaw's painting book. He flipped through the pages, ignoring the bickering behind him.

He saw many things in it; an ocean with a sunset cast upon the waters, a giant mountain topped with snow, a forest filled with birds and lizards, a desert with cacti and snakes. The list went on and on and on.

He kept flipping through, seeing a meadow, a castle, waterfall, Shadow, the Grand Canyon-

_Wait, what? _He flipped back. He saw, perfectly drawn and detailed, a picture of Shadow running through the city.

_Now where did she get a scene like that? _He turned it a bit, and saw a small scribble in the corner. He squinted.

After a bit of staring and thinking, he finally figured out that the scribble was actually 'S. M. Fur' put in sloppy cursive.

"What's S. M. stand for?" He mumbled to himself.

Then, Shadowpaw suddenly snatched it away from Kussia and glared at him, hatred written all over her eyes.

Kussia chuckled weakly. Shadowpaw pointed to the door, and Kussia ran for his life.

Literally.

As Shadowpaw ran out to probably murder him, Shadow was left alone with nothing to do. He tried to stay occupied.

First, he looked around and complimented Shadowpaw's room. Then he went through her drawers.

When she still didn't come, he even alphabetized the junk. Then he color coded it, size coded it, topic coded, and everything else he could think of.

Finally he looked out of the door mumbling, "Where is she? Does it take _that _long to hideously maim Kussia and make him regret ever letting her live here?"

Obviously, it did. So he walked around a bit, trying to stop from yelling and looking for Shadowpaw.

Finally he gave up and flopped on the bed. He was so bored, he could kill himself. And to him, that didn't sound too bad…

Before he could find some hard or sharp object, Shadowpaw walked in and dropped on the bed, too. He didn't speak for a moment, afraid she might still be mad and snap at him, or maybe worse…

After a while he said, "Is Kussia dead?"

"No."

"Darn."

"He got away before I could attack him. I think he's hiding in the bathroom, but the door's locked, so I can't get in without breaking stuff and costing money."

"Darn."

"And he took my candy bar from the fridge, too."

"Darn."

"I'm gonna kill myself."

"Darn."

Shadowpaw sat up and stared at him. "Is that _all _you're gonna say, or what?"

Shadow shrugged. Shadowpaw rolled her eyes and walked over to her sketchbook. She turned the pages, looking for any damage. When she found no rips or smudges, she carefully put it in her dresser and walked over to her PS2.

"Wanna play?"

"Of course I do!"

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Kussia peeked out from the bathroom. When he didn't see Shadowpaw anywhere, he sighed and ran over to a picture on the wall.

He looked around, then picked up the picture and pressed a number code. He heard a hiss, but not Shadowpaw's, and a door opened in the wall.

He walked in, and the door shut behind him. He walked into his secret control room and sat in his chair.

He had cameras rigged up everywhere, except the bathrooms. He looked at Shadowpaw's room. She was playing Inuyasha Feudal Combat with Shadow.

He sighed in relief, and pressed a few buttons. A little red light blinked, indicating the recording system was on. Anything that happened in that room now would be taped.

Kussia smirked. _Time to get information._


	4. New Surprises

Knuckles: Hey. It's time for the fourth chapter of Sonic Bloopers. This time, there will be dancing involved! And Shadowpaw will totally kick Shadow's butt at it! And the best thing about it is she doesn't even cheat! And - wait, what's that smell? (sniff, sniff) Is that nachos? NACHOS! MUST HAVE NACHOS! (Knuckles runs off camera, followed by crunching sounds)

(Sonic pops up)

Sonic: Sorry about that. He's just…being himself again. Well, read and review!

(Note: the numbers mean time gap)

"I'm so bored."

Shadowpaw was laying on her bed. Shadow and Tails were in there, too. They were standing around, staring at the ceiling. Shadow sighed. "What can we do?" Tails motioned to the TV. "Wanna play Sonic Heroes?"

Shadowpaw sat up. "Did you notice you sound different in that game?" Tails nodded. "Yeah. I feel conned." Shadow shook his head. "No thanks. I don't want to play as that hunk of metal." Tails frowned at him. "You only have to be Omega when you need to."

Shadow scoffed and looked away. "Being near a bunch of machines is one thing; fighting one is another. But being one? No." Tails shrugged. "Okay, I guess I'll play alone." While he turned it on, Shadowpaw picked up her Gameboy Advance SP and started playing Pokemon Yellow.

Shadow looked over her shoulder. "You know that's out of date, right?" She nodded, still looking at the screen. "Yeah, but I like to play this sometimes. Besides, it's the only game with Pikachu following you everywhere."

Suddenly she yelled in rage, "DUMB ONIX! I'LL KILL YOU, YOU RETARDED…ROCK…THING!" Shadow stared at her for a second, then looked around for something to do. He saw a DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) mat sticking out of a drawer in Shadowpaw's dresser.

He tapped said cat's shoulder and said, "Is that your Dance mat?"

She paused the game and looked to where Shadow was pointing. She nodded.

"Can I use it?"

She smirked. "You know how to dance?"

Shadow shrugged. "I'll try."

Her smirk got wider, and she snatched the mat, hooked it up to another TV, and threw it on the ground.

"Think you can beat me?"

Shadow smirked. "I can beat you any day!"

Tails turned to watch them. He had already beaten Sonic Heroes, (he's a wiz at technology remember) and he wanted to see who'd win. Shadowpaw yelled, "I call the first song!"

Shadow snapped his fingers. "Darn it!" Shadowpaw scrolled through the songs, until she came to one titled 'I do, I do, I do' and yelled, "I pick this one!"

Shadow frowned at the name, but snapped back into reality when the screen came up. Shadowpaw was twitching her tail to the tempo. This was her game; she was the MASTER of this! When the arrows scrolled, she was a whole different cat.

Shadow could keep up, but she was getting a lot of perfects. He was sweating trying to hit all the arrows, but Shadowpaw was just grinning evilly and sailing through it all. Shadow was wondering how she managed to do this. When the song was over, Shadowpaw cracked her knuckles. "Alright, you pick the song."

Since Shadow had never danced before or heard these songs, he didn't have a clue what any of them were. He just scrolled through and picked a random song.

As he realized he would definitely lose, his mind went to more pleasant topics. He wondered what he would say when Shadowpaw started bragging about how superior she was to him in DDR. Finally, the song ended and Shadowpaw squinted at the screen, still smirking, as she picked a song. When she finally picked, Shadow kept an eye on her. _Maybe she somehow rigged this thing; she might have purposely put me on the side that doesn't work as well, or… Aaargh!_

When the last song was done, and the final score was up, Shadow chuckled. "Well, you beat me."

"Yeah, I guess…" Shadowpaw looked like she was thinking about something. Then, she shook her head and grinned. "And you were so cocky. Just remember, it's only a stupid game!"

"Well, I bet I could beat you at Shadow the Hedgehog!"

"You mean the new game? Bring it on!"

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Tails stood up and yawned. "Well, I better go to bed; it's 10:30, and I have to get up early so I can work on the Tornado." Shadowpaw waved. "Good night. See ya in the morning." When Tails left the room, Shadowpaw noticed that it actually WAS 10:30. She was sitting next to Shadow playing Shadow the Hedgehog multiplayer.

She tried hard to concentrate on the game so she could beat Shadow, but exhaustion was weighing down on her. She usually went to sleep around nine, and yet woke up whenever she did still feeling tired. So, you can imagine how she felt right now, after playing three hours of video games and dancing herself to her limits.

Suddenly, Shadow's character caught her off guard and shot her with a laser. She had already been hit by him a lot, and that last shot killed her. She growled. "Darn it…" Shadow patted her on the head. She swatted it away. "Don't worry; it's just a stupid game." He said, smirking.

She growled in response. Unfortunately, since she was done playing and wasn't staring at bright lights, she was really drowsy. Everything was blurry, and she was a bit wobbly getting up. Her knees went out on her, and she fell down. Shadow pulled her up. "You need to go to bed now. You can't even stand!" She said something he couldn't catch, and he was about to ask her what she said when she fell asleep right there and fell onto him.

He sighed and pushed her away. "Does she ever sleep? Sure doesn't act like it." He dragged her to her bed and struggled to push her up. She kept sliding off, still asleep. He decided to take a different approach. He flat out picked her up and dumped her on the bed. She twitched her ear, but otherwise she was still asleep.

He sighed again. "She needs to get to sleep earlier." He was about to walk out when he saw her journal lying unlocked on her night stand. He looked at it, then Shadowpaw, who was fast asleep, then the journal again. He carefully picked it up and opened it. It was obviously old; it had things dating back to two years ago.

He flipped through the pages until he came to the day they met. Nothing of interest, other than her saying she thought Kussia was annoying and that talking to him about battling was fun.

But there was something else, too. _I hope I fit in this time. _What could that mean? This time? He kept flipping, trying to get more information. He landed on one page and started to read.

_I just got away from a group of orphanage people. They were trying to put me in that infernal place again, but I escaped. I even had the glory of biting one of those infernal person's hand! I'm at a place by the ocean. In fact, I'm staring at it right now. It's dark and I'm writing by moonlight. The ocean looks so calm, slight ripples on the glass-like surface. The moon is reflected like a mirrored kaleidoscope, a white disk on the water. It is so beautiful. I hope I can stay here and watch the ocean forever. The most beautiful things are nature's untamed masterpieces. _

He flipped to another random page, trying to consume time.

_I tried to take an apple from a stand to eat, but the owner saw me, and I had to run for it. I've run out of money and need to get a job. Not here, though; too many bandits. I'll get a job at a place farther away, probably somewhere down the northern road. I found a book, and I'm reading it when I have the chance. It's a human book, oddly titled 'Help! I'm a Prisoner in a Chinese Bakery!' It's really funny, at least the parts I understand. Some things are 'adult things'; crazy stuff._

Shadow put the journal back on the night table and picked up a book full of drawings. It had drawings of other creatures, and a sketch of the ocean. He looked through it, admiring how good she could draw. He heard a groan, and turned to see Shadowpaw sitting up and rubbing her eyes. He quickly put it down and dropped to the floor.

He crawled under the bed and tried to be as quiet as possible. He heard her sit up, yawn, and crawl off of the bed. He tensed. He watched her white paws walk over to her door and walk out, mumbling something about milk. He waited a while before crawling out from under the bed. He tiptoed to the door, looked out into the deserted hall, and sprinted into his door right next to Shadowpaw's room.

When he was safely in his bed and 'sleeping', he thought for a while, before he finally succumbed to real, authentic sleep.

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Shadow got up and yawned. After he splashed his face with water, he walked to Shadowpaw's room to see if she was awake. He knocked on the door. Before he could yell 'Are you awake', Shadowpaw yelled, "Go away, I'm trying to sleep in!" He sighed and shook his head. "You can sleep in tomorrow, now get up and eat breakfast! Besides, the Xbox is your room!"

"Well, you can just leave my plate on the table, and you can wait to play Xbox. Now go away!" Shadow kept knocking on the door. "Don't make me blare on the music." She growled angrily, but otherwise she was sleeping. He opened the door and walked over to her stereo. He turned it on and looked for loud music. He picked heavy metal, popped it in, turned it up, and ran out of the room.

(This scene has been deleted for excessive violence, language, and blood. DO NOT ASK)

Kussia walked in to see Shadowpaw trying to kill Shadow. They stopped. Shadow and Shadowpaw stared at him.

He said, "Oh good, your awake. So, want any food?" He took out a mcronald's silly meal. "Hungry?" Shadowpaw gritted her teeth. "No, thank you."

"What, you don't like chicken?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm just tired."

"Oh, okay." Kussia sat down next to Shadow on the floor. Shadowpaw stared at him. "I said, 'I'm TIRED.'"

"So? Why can't you do that with me here?"

Shadowpaw yawned. "Because I can't sleep with people watching me."

Shadow started whistling at this comment.

Kussia nodded. "Okay." He looked away.

Shadowpaw sighed, then picked up her drawing book. She took a pencil and started chewing on the eraser, thinking.

Kussia got bored and walked out of the room. Shadowpaw looked around, and sighed. "What in the world can I draw?"

She frowned, then brightened up and started drawing. She looked at the book, then glanced at Shadow for a moment, then looked back down.

Shadow was curious. He tried to look over, but she covered the book.

"Let me see!"

He tried to take the book away, but she held on tight. He tugged, she tugged back.

Kussia was watching them, invisible, thanks to the technology of cloaking devices.

Finally, Shadowpaw tugged a last time as hard as she could, making Shadow lose his balance and fall on her.

She blushed a lot, and she pushed him onto the floor. She tweaked her ear and heard laughing.

She jumped up and looked around. No one but Shadow and herself. Or so it seemed.

Then, a cell phone ringed in the room, followed by an "Oh, crud!" and then the ringing stopped.

Shadowpaw growled really, really threateningly. A voicemail alert went on, by the plant Shadowpaw put in the corner.

She slowly walked over there, and scratched at the plant.

Nothing happened.

She growled again and looked around.

She heard a sigh, then a little beep, and someone incidentally sounding like Kussia held their breath.

Shadowpaw growled and said, "Who's there? Show yourself!"

Shadow took this moment of shock to pick up Shadowpaw's sketchbook. He flipped through the pages, until he came to the last used page.

His mouth fell open.

_She was drawing me! And not too badly, I might add… _

Shadowpaw came up and snatched it away. She shoved it in her dresser and took out her book, the funny titled one.

She stomped to her bed, sat down, and read.

Shadow crossed his arms. _She can be down right weird sometimes. _

A while after she started reading, he saw her smile and nod to herself.

He raised an eyebrow. _Yep, definitely weird. _

He started pacing again, since he didn't have anything better to do. Finally, Shadowpaw put the book down and lay on her back, eyes closed.

Shadow looked at her. "Why are you so…different then other people? Why can't you be normal?"

She opened one eye. "What _is _the definition of normal?"

Shadow didn't have an answer for her, so she curled up and was soon sleeping peacefully.

He looked at her, silently breathing in and out, then picked up her journal.

He flipped through the pages, looking for something he could possibly blackmail her with.

Then one page caught his eye. He turned back. It was short, and a little sloppy, but he could read it.

_I made a new friend today. Her name is Marissa. She says I can live with her for a while. I can't wait to go to her house and finally have a soft bed and full stomach._

The thing he didn't notice, though, was that Shadowpaw wasn't really asleep. She opened one eye. She watched him, waiting for the right moment. When he accidentally dropped the lock and went to pick it up, she tapped his shoulder. He jumped and started to stammer. "I was, ummm, just, uhh……"

She swatted at him, and he ducked and ran out of the room. She hissed at him, then picked up her journal. She smoothed the bent pages down, and put the lock on. She put the journal back on the night table and lay down again. Soon, all you could hear from her room was a light snoring.


	5. A Little Bit of Robot Fighting

The next day, Shadow and Shadowpaw played 'Sonic Heroes' as soon as they got up. Shadow was the Dark team, and Shadowpaw was the Chaotix team. Shadow still mumbled darkly about the 'inferior hunk of metal not fit for a highly sophisticated ultimate life form such as himself'.

Shadowpaw rolled her eyes as he mumbled it to himself for about the twelfth time. "Will you give it a rest? If you say that one more time, my head will explode!"

Shadow was glaring at the TV screen and mumbling darkly to himself, "If I have to use that mediocre scrap metal one more time, I'll…"

He didn't get to finish that train of thought, though, because Shadowpaw punched his arm and yelled, "SHUT UP, FOR THE LOVE OF TUNA!"

Shadow rubbed his arm and glared at her. "Don't touch me."

Shadowpaw stuck her tongue out at him without looking away from the TV. She smiled as she ran past him in the gameand stunned him with Charmy's Thunder Shoot. Shadow growled and sped after her as soon as he got back in control. He used Team Blast, and Shadowpaw had to use Espio to catch up to him.

They hit each other for a while, doing the hit-and-run strategy, until Shadowpaw actually kicked Shadow for pushing her off the cliff and into the water. Shadow kicked her back. "Don't touch me!"

Shadowpaw kicked back. "I can if I want!"

Shadow kicked her back too. "Then so can I!"

She punched him. "So that's how you wanna play, huh?"

He grabbed her tail and yanked hard. "Bring it, kitty!"

They started fighting, the game forgotten, and rolled around on the floor. They punched and kicked and scratched (well, Shadowpaw scratched him) until they ran into the wall. Shadowpaw kicked Shadow off and tackled him. He grabbed her fists and threw her over his head. But Shadowpaw grabbed his hands and landed on her feet, using the momentum to send him flying.

She laughed at him, until he stood up quickly and kicked her in the face. She grabbed her nose, and blood trickled from it. She glared up at him and got up. "Now it's on, _rat_."

Shadow looked at her bleeding, and mocked a gasp. "Oh no, are you bleeding?" he mocked a concerned voice. "Does it hurt the poor kitten?"

She growled and tackled him again, and they kept fighting until Kussia opened the door, holding a tray full of pancakes. They stopped, Shadow on top of Shadowpaw and trying to choke her, and Shadowpaw trying to scratch his throat out. Kussia, of course, took the positions the wrong way.

"Oh, ummm, I see you guys are…busy…" he carefully set the tray on the ground and backed out of the door. "I don't mean to be interrupting anything…"

Shadowpaw got the point, and her face immediately turned red. Shadow didn't, though, and so was surprised when Shadowpaw leapt up (somehow out from under him) and tried to kill Kussia. He ducked, and she flew over him as he scurried off. She hit the opposite wall and fell on the ground, holding her head and biting her tongue to stop from yelling out and cursing at Kussia.

Shadow watched her get up and shake her head, look down the hallway where Kussia escaped, shake her head again, and stomp into her room and slam the door. She flopped face first on her bed and didn't say a word after that.

_Later…_

Shadowpaw sighed as she read her book. Today was very, very, very boring. Everybody was out doing something, and anybody who WAS here was either asleep or busy. Amy was out shopping (again); Sonic was sleeping, or hiding from Amy for when she comes back; Tails was working on his new invention, the 'Shadow Claw', which he had been planning to make for a while but never got around to until now; Knuckles was training in the backyard (for what, who knows?); Rouge was also in the backyard, looking for something of value; Kussia was shut up in his room, doing who knows what; Peanut was with Blaze and Cream watching TV; and Shadow…

She put her book down. She hadn't really seen Shadow for a while, so he's bound to be up to something. She walked out and knocked on Shadow's door (right next to her room). Nobody answered. She frowned. Then, she heard a crash from Tails' room. She sighed. He seemed to be working hard. She knocked on Sonic's door, and he cracked the door open. When he saw it was Shadowpaw, he sighed in relief and opened it up. "Have you seen Shadow anywhere?" She asked him, eyebrow raised.

He shook his head. "No, I haven't seen him at all today. Why?" She crossed her arms. "Just curious; I haven't seen him, either." He shrugged, and closed the door. She then continued to ask Cream, Tails, Knuckles, Rouge, Blaze, and Peanut, not necessarily in that order. She sighed and slowly walked to Kussia's door. _I _really _don't want to ask him…_ she was about to knock on his door when she heard another _bang!_

She looked towards Tails' room, but it didn't come from there. She ran down the stairs until she came to the kitchen. When she skidded in, she saw Shadow covered in fruit and trying to turn off a blender. The blender didn't have its lid on. She calmly walked over and pressed a button, and it stopped. He looked at her, and himself, and asked, "How in the world do you make a smoothie?" She slapped her forehead. _Today's more 'exciting' than I thought…_

She dumped in fruit, _closed_ the lid, pressed a button, and left the kitchen. She'd rather read. When she got back to her room, though, she saw Sonic hiding behind her TV. She stopped and blinked. He raised a finger to his mouth in a 'Shhh' sign, and ducked his head so you couldn't see his spikes from the front of the TV. She groaned and just dropped on her bed. She lay there, completely bored again, for about twenty minutes, before Amy burst into her room.

Shadowpaw jumped and grabbed the ceiling with her claws. Amy looked around furiously, and saw part of Sonic's shoe sticking out from behind the TV. She crept over and jumped behind the TV. A lot of yelling followed, and soon Sonic ran out of her room, Amy following him. Shadowpaw sighed and dropped down from the ceiling. _At least they're out of my room…_ She picked up her book again and sat down on her bed.

_Even later…_

Shadowpaw was almost asleep when someone knocked on the door. She sat up and looked around. She looked over at her door and said, "Come in!" The door creaked open, and Tails poked his head in. She yawned. "What…what do ya want?" Tails looked down the hall and motioned for her to come over. She raised an eyebrow, but followed. He walked into his room. She poked her head in, and gasped.

His room had millions of contraptions in it; it had a control panel, laptop, giant TV, models of machines, a few tables covered with blueprints, and… She stared up at a tarp covering something. Tails walked up to it and pulled the tarp off, saying, "Voila!" Under the tarp, a machine about as tall as her and with some cat-like features was standing. It had a long tail and extra big hand-paws.

She looked at it, and Tails explained, "When I saw you battle that one time with Shadow…remember, when he had ripped that little stuffed cat toy's tail off?"

She rolled her eyes and nodded. "Yeah…where did you get the idea to make _this_?"

Tails smiled. "Well, Shadow's the one who gave me the idea. He wanted to know what you could do with your claws and all that, but he said he didn't want to find out up close, so I decided to find out myself."

He knocked on the metal surface, and said proudly, "It is almost indestructible, except I installed a voice command system in case it gets out of hand. It has the same amount of strength as you, even though it's indestructible, and can only do as much as you can."

Shadowpaw smirked. She whipped her paws up and positioned herself, ready to battle. "Really? Let me see its powers. Bring it!"

Tails hesitated, but he pressed a button on a remote. The eyes flashed yellow, and it picked up its paws too. Tails yelled, "Okay, Shadowclaw, battle Shadowpaw. Do NOT kill her!"

Shadowclaw nodded, and big claws came out of its paws. Shadowpaw didn't wince, but when Shadowclaw's tail grew spikes on it, she looked at Tails and said, "It has the same amount of strength as I do, huh?" Tails nodded, and she turned back to the robot.

It smirked and ran up to her. She ducked and scratched at its stomach. It backed up quickly and picked up an empty beaker. It threw it, and picked up more and threw them in rapid succession. Shadowpaw leapt onto a table and ran three inches in front of the glass shards. She jumped off and kicked off the wall. The robot moved out of the way and brought down its arm on her back. She growled and grabbed its arm. She spun it around and threw it into the wall.

It recovered and stood up. She smirked and ran towards it. She made a move to duck, and the robot fell for it and tried to scratch her face. She grabbed its arm and used momentum to throw him into a model. Tails yelled, "Hey, watch it!" She stood up and laughed. "You need to fix that glitch, Tails! It doesn't seem as smart as me!" She turned away and walked to the door. But, the robot blasted through the rubble and slammed into her. They crashed through the door and hit the wall in the hallway.

Shadow stood there, two feet away, blinking. He had been about to walk past Tails' door when they had blasted through it and hit the wall. He watched as Shadowpaw stood up and scratched at the robot. It dodged and quickly grabbed her arm. It threw her into Shadow, and they hit the floor. Shadowpaw shook her head and quickly jumped off of Shadow, who was shocked at the…close encounter. She growled and cracked her knuckles.

"You wanna play dirty, huh? I'll show you dirty!"

She ran towards it, and it tried to dodge. But she grabbed its tail, despite the spikes, and threw it down the hallway. It skidded on the ground and hit the far wall. It shook its head and said in a monotone voice, "If that's how you want to play, then let's battle, weakling!" Shadowpaw hissed and ran at it. It sidestepped, and she hit the wall. She held her head and said, "You little…" The robot round-kicked her head, and she fell down.

Shadow stood there, watching, and Tails walked up beside him. Shadow looked at him and said, "Why's Shadowpaw fighting a robot that looks like her except more deadly?" Tails crossed his arms and said proudly, "She wanted to battle it, but it seems to be able to predict her moves. Shadowclaw is, after all, modeled after her." Shadow looked back at the battle, and blinked. "You mean…"

Tails nodded. "Yep, something on this planet actually has outsmarted Shadowpaw." Shadow stood gaping as Shadowclaw picked Shadowpaw up and threw her down the stairs. She thudded down, and fell right before Kussia's feet. He looked down at her. She got up, a little wobbly, (she was rolling down the stairs) and growled as Shadowclaw walked down the stairs. "You fake! You can't beat me! I'm _Shadowpaw_, you moronic scrap of metal!"

It smirked, and she growled and tackled it. They went into a huge cloud fight, and Tails and Shadow ran down the stairs. Tails said, panting, "She hasn't given up yet! She must be really mad!" Shadow flinched when Shadowclaw flew an inch over his head and hit the couch. Shadow watched Shadowpaw leap at Shadowclaw and try to scratch it to pieces. "I'm surprised the robot hasn't been turned into scrap metal yet!"

Tails frowned. "I knew this would happen…their strength is so evenly matched, they can't beat the other! The only thing is, Shadowpaw isn't a robot, and robots don't need to rest. She'll get tired soon, and Shadowclaw will get her when she's weak. Although, it shouldn't kill her; I commanded it not to."

Shadow looked at him. "Did you tell it not to hideously maim her enough to put her into a coma and send her to the emergency room and put her on the next episode of ER?"

"No…"

"I was afraid of that."

Shadowclaw blocked all of her attacks, and dished out some when she was down. Soon, Shadowpaw began to pant. She stood there, trying to regain strength, and Shadowclaw smirked. "You aren't running out of steam _now_, are you?"

Shadowpaw scoffed. "You wish. I'm not even breaking a sweat!" The robot laughed at her, and she hissed in reply. Shadowclaw ran towards her, and she jumped out of the way. But, the robot lashed out, and caught her face.

Then, time seemed to stop. She fell, in slow motion, to the ground. Shadow and Tails stared at her, wide-eyed, while Shadowclaw laughed evilly (in slow motion).

Then, at normal speed, Kussia walked in, eating a slice of pizza. He looked around, and said, "I was going to tell you guys that lunch was done, but…I guess this is a bad time…" He slowly walked backwards out of the door, and suddenly everything went to normal speed.

Shadowpaw slammed into the ground, and the robot smirked at her. Tails was thinking, _How can this be? It's under my control! How can it not listen? _Shadow was staring at Shadowpaw, mouth open. He still couldn't register in his mind after the shock too quickly, so he was still in slow motion. Shadowclaw walked up to her and looked down at her, still smirking.

"I guess you weren't such a worthy opponent after all." He said, and he kicked her. She didn't move. Tails whimpered, and suddenly everything rushed into Shadow's mind. He sat there, wide-eyed, thinking, _She's dead, she's dead, she's dead! _

The robot glanced over at him and Tails. He smirked. Tails gulped. "Nice robot kitty…good robot kitty…" Shadow added, "With dangerous claws and tail…"

Tails suddenly gasped, and he fumbled in his pockets and took out the remote. But before he could press a button, it was snatched out of his hand. Shadowclaw clenched it firmly in its paw, and crushed it. It was about to move towards them when, suddenly, its leg fell off.

It stumbled, and looked around the room for whatever had cut it. turned towards Shadowpaw. But she wasn't lying down anymore; she was standing, growling threateningly, and holding up a clenched paw with her claws unsheathed.

The robot stared at her, confused. It thought it had defeated her. But, she was standing right in front of him, about to destroy him, so how could she be out? It stared at her as she picked up her claws and was about to scratch its head off.

Then, Kussia came in again. "Hey guys, the pizza's…" Everybody stared at him, even the one-footed Shadowclaw and pissed off (to put it in a nice way) Shadowpaw.

Kussia shuffled his feet. "Ummm…if you guys are hungry, the pizza's done."

Shadow immediately forgot about what had happened and ran into the kitchen, yelling, "FOOOOOOD!" (I guess he never really figured out the blender)

Shadowpaw looked at Shadowclaw, then she put down her paw and walked into the kitchen too, grumbling something about 'no fun at all around here'. Tails looked at the robot, and it fizzled. Its eyes flickered, and faded. Tails looked at the ground and sighed. He would have to work extra hard to fix this robot.

Kussia stared at it, too, and said, "I think that's the equivalent to a human fainting."

Tails looked at him. "Yeah, you're probably right…do you think Shadowpaw would have won if the pizza wasn't done?"

Kussia looked at him innocently. "Why, of course! Why wouldn't she win?"

After Tails looked at him weirdly and ran into the kitchen, Kussia mumbled under his breath, "If she got lucky, that is!"

Well? You like it? THEN REVIEW!

Shadowpaw: Temper, temper! (wags finger in my face)

Kussia: I wouldn't do that...

Me: AAAAAARGH!

Shadowpaw: (smiles innocently and backs away slowly)

Kussia: Weeeeeeeeelllll, since the chapter's over, we should let them review...

Shadow: (pops up) Yeah! They need to rate the story so far out of ten!

Kussia: Yeah, and DL will pick a random review and give that person super sneak peeks and other things for this story _and _her other ones!

DL: (catching drift) AAAAAND I will give super thanks to you for support and thanks for being my loyal reader! So, start reviewing!

Shadow: Oh, and to make sure you didnt just read this about a year from now and want to review, this contest will end on the 26 of May! About nine or eight days from now...

Everyone: PLEASE REVIEW, AND GOOD LUCK!

Author's Note: As I have gotten a complaint, I do remember that I have to mention something extremely important. My friend, Dalsson, who is making an account soon, made Kussia, Tarrock, Phoenix, Blaze, and any other person that isn't Shadowpaw or the Sonic team's characters. Thanks for bringing that up, Dalsson, and I _do _respect other people's property and rights.

Thank you, that is all.


	6. Feather

Shadowpaw was walking down the street towards the mansion, holding bags of groceries. She was on shopping duty this week, and besides, it got her out of the house. She could barely see where she was going and was afraid she might run into somebody. She was only a block from the mansion when she finally did as she feared; whoever it was, they both walked into each other and fell backwards, Shadowpaw dropping all of her bags.

She shook her head and looked up at Shadow holding his head. She growled. "What the heck are you doing out here, knocking the sense out of poor girls?"

Shadow glared at her and stood up, wiping dust off of himself. "Unlike you, I actually have important things to do."

Shadowpaw started to pick up her bags and grumbled, "Like what, little rat…run into old ladies?"

Shadow was about to walk away, but he looked back at her bending over and picking up a three liter bottle of soda. He scoffed. "You're so slow."

Shadowpaw stopped and glared at him. "Watch it, _Shadow_! Technically, I _eat _you for breakfast."

Shadow scoffed again. "Like you could catch me, cat! I could run around the world five times before you went halfway!"

Shadowpaw stood up straight and narrowed her eyes, dropping the things she had picked up. "You better cut it out, _rat_, before you step over the line."

Shadow rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Like I'd be sorry!" He sneered. "I'd better leave you to your 'shopping'." He kicked a can of tuna.

Shadowpaw grabbed it as he walked off. She glared at him and scowled. "Why, that little…why does he live in the mansion, anyway, if he has 'better' things to do?" She started to pick up the stuff again. "One day, I'll show him!"

After she finally had everything back in the bags, she went to walking. Unfortunately, her luck seemed to be rotten, because she tripped in a pothole on the sidewalk (weird as it sounds) and again dropped the bags. She sighed and picked up the bags yet again, but decided that while she was out shopping she might as well get a couple of locks for her doors.

She found some nice locks and bought it with the money DL gave her (I mean, she does get paid for doing this stuff) and walked out of the store forty-five minutes later. Her throat parched, she grabbed a root beer float at an ice cream shop and sat at a small table in the corner of the room. The place was full of chatter, and nobody gave her a second glance. As she sipped her soda, she saw Cream walk into the shop with Cheese by her side.

Shadowpaw brightened up and waved for their attention. Cheese saw her first and pulled one of Cream's ears, pointing towards her. As soon as she saw her, Cream happily skipped over towards her. She stopped by the table. "What are you doing out of the house, Ms. Shadowpaw?"

Shadowpaw gritted her teeth, but she bit back the sharp retort she was about to growl and instead said, "Kussia put me on shopping duty. I've never noticed him have a shopping week, tell you the truth." She blinked at her. "So what are _you _doing here, Cream?"

Cream smiled. "Tails said he was gonna meet me here a little after three. I'm waiting until he comes."

Shadowpaw motioned towards the seat in front of her. "Do you wanna sit down until he does?"

Cream smiled. "I would like to – "

"Hey, Cream!"

Cream turned at the sound of her name, and Tails walked up to them. When he noticed Shadowpaw he stopped. "What are you doing here, Shadowpaw?"

Shadowpaw sighed. She mumbled, "Shopping duty…"

Tails nodded in agreement. He waved bye to her. "Well, see ya later!"

Shadowpaw nodded, a little crestfallen. She looked down at the table. _Well, this is a drag… _She thought gloomily as she sipped her float. _And they don't even know…of course, I never told them…_

Outside of the ice cream shop, Shadow was walking past the window. When he saw Shadowpaw inside he stopped and stared in. She was drinking her root beer float through a straw, her head on her hand, and a depressed look on her face as she trailed her fingers on the table. Shadow frowned, then shook his head and kept walking.

Shadowpaw soon afterwards stood up, dumped the empty cup in the trash bin, and walked out carrying the groceries. She walked down the sidewalk, looking around for everything ahead of her. Well, as fate would have it, she didn't see the next thing she tripped on.

As she got up and rubbed her head from hitting the sidewalk, she looked for the person and/or hole that caused her to connect yet again with the ground. Instead, she saw something different.

A little blue shape was lying on the ground. At first, Shadowpaw thought it was Cheese, but she realized it was a different shade of blue. She leaned down and examined the little guy. He looked up at her with big ol' puppy eyes. Even though she hated puppies, she couldn't help admitting that…it _was _kinda adorable, in a weird, scary sort of way. He raised his arms and tried to grab onto her face. Shadowpaw picked him up and tilted her head. "Looks like you're one of those – umm, what are they called… Chao!" He tilted his head and babbled something in gibberish.

She put him on her shoulder and picked up the bags again. "Well, I guess Kussia wouldn't mind another person in the house. I wonder where your owner is…" The Chao shook his head, and Shadowpaw frowned. "You mean you don't have an owner?" He nodded and gurgled something.

"Then what are you doing out here? The streets are no place for a shrimp like you…" She shivered. "I should know…"

When they arrived at the mansion, the Chao gurgled and stared glossy-eyed up at the higher floors way up above them. Shadowpaw looked at him and smirked. "It's not much, but its home!"

She walked into the door and started towards the kitchen. She set the bags on the counter and went back out into the living room. "It's not my job to clean up; I'm on shopping duty, not maid duty!"

She sat down on the couch and flipped through the channels. The Chao crawled over to the screen and stared at it only three inches away from it. Shadowpaw picked him up and set him on the couch beside her. "Don't get too close to the TV screen, or you'll fry your brain."

Tails, Cream, and Cheese came inside about half an hour later, holding some prizes and a bag with a small goldfish inside.

"What are you gonna name it, Cream?" Tails asked Cream as he put some stuff down on the other couch.

Cream thought hard, and after a moment she said, "Well, I think you should decide, Tails."

Tails frowned and stared at the goldfish. "But it's your fish! Besides, I can't think of a name for it."

Cream smiled and giggled. "Yeah, but you're the one who won it for me! You should name it."

Cheese nodded. "Chao Chao!"

Tails sighed and looked down at the fish. "Well, if you really want me to…" Cream nodded and encouraged him. He looked around and saw a butter stick that had dropped from the bags when Shadowpaw was taking the bags to the kitchen. "Umm, uhh, butter!"

Cream looked at the little fish. "Well, hi, Butter!" It wiggled its fin at her, making her giggle. "I think he likes it!"

Tails looked at the little goldfish hovering in the bag and nodded. "He does look happy…" He looked back at the bags and walked over to it. "It's a good thing the pet store is right next to the fair!" He pulled a little goldfish bowl out of one of the bags and went into the kitchen to fill it up with water. After he added the chemicals, he came back and put the bag into the water. The fish swam around in the bag, feeling the difference of the temperature from the tank water.

"The books say you have to get the fish used to the water before you put them in the tank." Tails said as he crouched down and watched the fish swim around. "It helps calm them down."

Cream crouched down next to him and stared at her new pet. "He sure seems to want to get out!" She looked at Tails and smiled. "He likes his home already!"

Cheese tapped the glass and stared at the fish swimming around. "Chao…"

Tails chuckled nervously, blushing a little at her smiling at him, and quickly looked back at the fish. "H-he seems happy enough." He stammered as he realized how close they were.

Shadowpaw watched this all in amusement, the TV boring her, but the Chao crawled of the couch and over towards them. Shadowpaw saw it and quickly got up and ran over to him. She picked him up and looked at him in the eyes. "No. Stay with me. Bad Chao."

Cream's ears perked up at the word Chao and looked at her. She gasped and ran over to her and started to pet the Chao. "He's so cute!"

Cheese floated over to them and tilted his head at the little Chao. "Chao Chao?"

The little Chao smiled as Cream continued to pet him. Tails walked over to them, his blush gone, and smiled at the Chao. "He's pretty cute!"

Shadowpaw groaned. "Yea, it's cute, now – "

"Did you name him, Ms. Shadowpaw?" Cream tilted her head. "Tails could if you can't think of a name!" Tails looked down in embarrassment, but Shadowpaw shook her head. "Nah, that's okay; he's got a name."

Everyone, Cream, Tails, and Chao alike looked at her. The Chao in her arms looked up questioningly. Tails looked at the little Chao. "What _is_ his name, then?"

Shadowpaw bit her lip for a moment, before she grinned. "His name is Feather."

Cream tilted her head. "Feather?" Shadowpaw nodded. After a moment, Cream smiled. "That's a cute name!" She tickled 'Feather' and made him started babbling again. "It fits such a cute little Chao!"

_Enough with the word 'cute' already… _Shadowpaw thought as she walked into the kitchen. Amazingly, everything was put away. She stood there for a moment, blinking, before she shrugged and went to the fridge. She opened the door and ducked down and stuck her head into it. "So, what do we got here…"

Feather jumped out of her arms and hopped into the fridge. He grabbed a milk carton and was about to bite it before Shadowpaw quickly grabbed the carton and picked him up again. She wagged her finger at him as she gulped down the milk. "No milk for you! You eat fruit!" She handed him an apple.

Feather held it in his hands for a moment, staring at the light shining off of the skin, before he popped it into his mouth whole. Shadowpaw watched him in amazement as he swallowed it and belched contently. She blinked. "That was…different. You kinda act like Sonic."

Feather made a face at her, and she smirked. "Yeah, he's worse with stuff like that. But you aren't gonna be, now, are you?" Feather shook his head. "Good. That means you can start taking bites out of apples." Feather gurgled something in Chao talk, and Shadowpaw shook her head. "We're gonna have to work on that, too."

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Later on that day, Shadowpaw was trying to teach Feather how to play video games. He held up the controller like she told him to, and actually moved around his character before he died. Shadowpaw gave him a thumbs-up. "Good job, Feather! You're getting better at this!"

Feather held up his hand, and they pushed them together like a high-five. She winked at him, and he winked back. She patted him on the head. "That's my Feather!"

Feather smiled. "Bah boo!"

Shadowpaw winced. "We still need to work on that."

She stood up and walked over to her calendar. Today's date was circled in red marker, but it didn't have any message as to why. She sighed. "And they still don't know…I should tell them…"

"Hey."

Shadowpaw looked up and saw Shadow standing there, his arms crossed, and leaning against the doorframe. She tensed and crossed her arms. "What do _you _want?"

Shadow was looking down at Feather. "What's that?"

Shadowpaw picked Feather up, who gurgled some incomprehensible nonsense, and glared at Shadow. "This is Feather. Feather, say hi." Feather stuck his tongue out at Shadow, making a rather rude noise.

Shadowpaw turned away from Shadow and put Feather down by the video game console (pick a random one…she's got 'em all). She patted him on the head as she said to Shadow, "So? Did you come for any special reason?"

Shadow rolled his eyes. "Kussia needs you to help him with the window washing. He's only doing the first ten floors for the moment, so you will be spared the hard work until tomorrow."

Shadowpaw groaned and walked out of the room, grumbling about 'no fun around here at all'. Shadow rolled his eyes, but Feather's cooing caught his attention. He looked at him halfway under the bed and sighed. He walked over to him and crouched down. "What _are _you doing, 'Feather'?"

The Chao came out from under Shadowpaw's bed, holding something, and stuck his tongue out again. Shadow glanced at the thing in his hand. "Hello, what's this?"

After a bit of coaxing, Shadow finally got Feather to throw it at his face and crawl over to the console. Shadow rubbed his nose as he picked up a little notepad. He raised an eyebrow. "What in the world is _this?_"

He opened it up, and, after a while off browsing through it, saw in big capital letters, 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHADOWPAW! July 20, (random year here…I'm too lazy XD)'

He glanced at the calendar out of curiosity. It was July 20. He looked back at the notepad and threw it back under the bed. "So, it's her birthday…another year older, yet not any wiser…"

He felt something tug his leg and looked down to see Feather. He was attached to his leg. Shadow shook his leg, but Feather was holding on tight. Shadow picked him off, but then he grabbed his arm. Shadow shook that, cursing wherever Chao come from. He grabbed it with his other hand, but he bit it hard. He had tiny sharp teeth.

(As Shadow shouts in pain and keeps up his pathetic attempts to get Feather off, let's go over to Shadowpaw)

She grumbled as she squirted Windex onto the inside of the window. "Why doesn't Shadow and them help, too? It would go along much, much faster!"

Kussia looked at her from the other side. He said, slightly muffled, "I only have so many Windex bottles and paper towels, now stop whining and put your back into it!"

Shadowpaw mimicked him as she scrubbed at a dirt spot in front of her. Kussia wiped his whole window and started the next one. Shadowpaw kept scrubbing that one spot. It wouldn't come off. "Dagnabit, why won't it come off?"

Kussia looked over at her scrubbing so hard that it seemed she would break through it. He reached over and scrubbed the spot on his side for a moment. It disappeared. Shadowpaw glared at him as he went back to his window. "Well, this is a drag…man, why didn't I stay in bed?"

Kussia clearly stated that the reason she wasn't in bed was Shadow. Shadowpaw growled as she remembered how he, yet again, blasted her radio next to her ear to wake her up. She scoffed. "That dumb rat…next time, I'll wake _him _up with heavy metal on Max Volume."

Kussia rolled his eyes as he continued washing his window. Suddenly, they heard a crash and Shadow cursing loudly. He came hopping on one foot that was stuck in a bucket and holding the foot with Feather's teeth clamped onto it while waving his arms in the air and trying to stay balanced. Shadowpaw sniggered as he yelped and lost the little balance he had and fell to the floor.

Feather let go as soon as he saw her and crawled over to her. He jumped up and landed in her lap, gurgling and hugging her. She smirked and patted the little Chao on his head. "Good boy, you came to me! You're getting smarter now."

Kussia tilted his head at the sight of the Chao hugging Shadowpaw like it would its mother. "What's that doing here?"

Shadowpaw glared at him. "He's Feather, now leave him alone!" She looked at Feather and smiled. "Now, what do want, Feather?"

Feather cooed something and his stomach grumbled, so Shadowpaw put the Windex down and walked over to the kitchen. "Then let's feed you!"

Kussia yelled, "Hey, get back here! You didn't finish you're –" The kitchen door slammed, and he sighed. He looked at Shadow pulling the bucket off of his foot and said, "Get over here and help me clean these windows!"

Shadow glared at him. "That's Shadowpaw's job, not mine!"

Kussia yelled, "Well, she's not here right now, is she? Not pick up that Windex and _help!"_

Shadow grumbled and picked the bottle up. He squirted the window and wiped it with the paper towel while thinking darkly. _I'm going to get her back for this…and that annoying Chao, too!_

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As Shadowpaw practiced with Feather with talking in English, Shadow walked past her door. He stopped and looked in. He glared at Shadowpaw's back, since she was turned away from him, as she said, "Can you say 'Feather'?"

"Fehva!"

"Okay, that was easy…how about 'Mother'?"

"Muva!"

"Close enough…'Shadowpaw'?"

"Paw-Paw!"

"Err, okay…what about 'idiot'?"

"Stoopid!"

"…Umm…yeah, that works."

"Muva!" He hugged her, and the orb above his head turned into a hear-shape. Shadowpaw sighed. "It's Shadowpaw, not 'muva'."

"Paw-Paw!"

She sighed. "Great, if Shadow hears him say that, I'm gonna die…"

"Hey, 'Paw-Paw'."

Shadowpaw whirled around and saw Shadow smirking. Shadowpaw eye twitched, and she sighed. "Now I'm _really _gonna die…"

Feather looked at Shadow and stuck out his tongue. "Stoopid!"

Shadowpaw picked him up and walked over to her bed. She lay down on it and turned away from Shadow. "Leave me alone."

Shadow stepped into the room. "I don't feel like it." He stepped over a trumpet that probably was Feather's. Chao are known for getting crayons and stuff out of nowhere.

Feather stuck his tongue out and made a rude noise, but Shadowpaw gently grabbed his tongue and poked it back in his mouth. "That's rude, Feather."

"Paw-Paw!" He crawled over to her head and poked her ear. It twitched, and he giggled and poked it again. It twitched again, and he grabbed it and started examining it. Shadowpaw picked him up off of her ear and put him down beside her. He sat down and sucked his hand.

Shadow walked over to the bed and crossed his arms. "So, what are you going to do to celebrate?"

Shadowpaw didn't even turn around to glare at him. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Shadow smirked. "Yes, you do. I mean for your birthday."

Shadowpaw tensed, but she just replied, "None of your business."

Shadow sighed and shook his head as if with disappointment. "Another year older and yet not a bit wiser…"

Shadowpaw growled. "Leave me alone, will you?"

"No, why should I?"

"It's my room. Get out."

"I don't have to."

"I said get out."

"No. You're not my mother."

Shadowpaw jumped up and yelled, "Damn it, leave me alone, filthy rat!"

Shadow smirked, knowing he struck a nerve. "Such language, and in front of the little Chao!"

Shadowpaw threw a book that was on the bed at him, yelling, "I'm sick and tired of you aggravating me!"

Shadow dodged the book and replied, "Quite a temper you have, now, don't you? Don't give the Chao bad influences!"

Shadowpaw suddenly shot off of the bed and tackled him, pinning him to the ground. She spat in his face, "I am _through_ with you pushing my buttons! You keep treating me like trash, and I can't take it anymore!"

Feather watched her as she continued to yell at the trapped hedgehog. "You keep bothering me and acting as if I'm not worth crap, and I have to put up with you _every single day! Do you know how hard that is, to keep hanging around people who treat you like nothing?_" She scoffed. "Of course not, you're 'the Ultimate Life Form'! Everyone pays attention to you! You love it, don't you?"

Shadow didn't reply, but he wouldn't have been able to because Shadowpaw kept going on. "Everyday is hell for me, and everyday for you to be in it is even worse! I can't understand what I ever did to you to deserve this! I'm just being me, and you're acting as if that's a crime!"

As she panted and glared at him for an answer, Tails walked past the open door. He looked in and froze, but before he could say anything Shadowpaw looked up at him and yelled, "_Go away!_" He yelped and ran off to his room.

As Shadowpaw glared at where Tails had ran off, Feather crawled off of the bed and tugged her tail. She looked at him and sighed. She got up and brushed herself off before she picked Feather up and walked to the door. Before she got there, though, Shadow had gotten up and he said, "It's not."

She froze. She didn't look back at him as she said, "What's not?"

"It's not a crime to be. I am, and you are. That's not a sin."

Feather gurgled as Shadowpaw stood there not looking at him. She was staring at the open door, with Feather in her arms. Suddenly, Feather cooed and jumped down and flew out the door. Shadowpaw snapped out of it and looked around. "Feather?" She looked outside of the room. "Feather, get back here!" She ran after him.

Feather kept flying just out of her reach, and she tried in vain to grab him. They both ran/flew down the stairs and past Amy. Amy watched them as Shadowpaw yelled, "Feather, listen to me and stop flying!"

Amy frowned. "I wonder where they're going…" She shrugged and went off to look for Sonic.

She should have followed them, though, because next they ran into Sonic. He was leaning against the wall and listening the a CD player when they suddenly zoomed around the corner. Feather flew above him, but Shadowpaw ran into him. She got up, pulled him up, said a quick 'sorry', and ran after Feather again.

Sonic scratched his head. "What are they doing?"

Tails came out of his room and looked at Sonic. "What is who doing?"

Sonic looked at him and shrugged. "Shadowpaw and this little Chao suddenly zoom around the corner and nearly clobbered me. Shadowpaw was acting really weird."

Tails hesitated. "How so?"

"She said 'sorry'."

"That's odd, she yelled for me to get out of her room when she was…"

"Maybe she's having mood swings or something."

"Yeah, that's probably it…"


	7. A Little Bit of Conflict

Chapter Seven

A Little Bit of Conflict

_Author/Cast Notes_

Shadow: Geez, Shadowpaw's a little cranky today…

Shadowpaw: No, I'm not! It's just –

DL: It's just that everyone is being mean and unfair to her on her birthday.

Shadowpaw: Exactly!

Shadow: But you never told us it _was _your birthday.

Shadowpaw: …

DL: Anyways, I don't own Sonic –

Shadow: Or me!

DL: (rolls eyes) yeah, or him, and I don't own anything else of the Sonic Team's things.

Shadowpaw: Hey…you haven't done a disclaimer for a long time, or even put up the chapter's name _or_ number in the story. Why now all of a sudden?

DL: Because I had free time AND I have read the last few 'Commentaries' by you guys! They aren't creative at _all!_

Shadowpaw: Yeah, but the readers would like to read the story now.

DL: Huh? (looks at impatient readers) oh, umm, sorry…here's the latest chapter!

"Feather! Get back here right now!"

"Paw-Paw!"

Shadowpaw ran after the little Chao as he flew outside to the front yard. He flew over the lawn and towards the forest on the right. Shadowpaw desperately ran after him, but she was beginning to tire.

"Feather! Your 'mother' is getting really tired here! Shouldn't you give her a rest?"

Feather just looked back at her and smiled as he gurgled Chao nonsense. Shadowpaw groaned as she maneuvered in the trees after him. "We're still going to have to work on that!"

The little Chao cooed and flew up into a tree. Shadowpaw looked up at him hiding in between the branches. He peeked out from behind one and giggled. Shadowpaw sighed. "Great, now the cat has to get the Chao out of the tree…how ironic." She extended her claws and stuck them into the bark of the tree and started to climb.

She grabbed onto a branch and pulled herself up onto it. It was a pretty big tree, about twenty meters tall. Feather was about halfway in between, and he looked down at her and giggled, before he flew into a hole in the trunk. He peeked out from it carefully as she continued her climb. She gritted her teeth as a branch cracked under her feet, and they dangled in the air as she held on to the bark with her claws. "What a pain little brothers and sisters and stuff are!"

_Back at the mansion…_

Shadow walked past Tails mumbling to himself about his new tests on Shadowclaw. Shadow stopped him and asked, "Have you seen Shadowpaw?"

Tails looked up at him and shook his head. "I didn't, but Sonic did. She nearly ran him over chasing after Feather."

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "Feather?"

"The Chao."

"Oh, right…"

Tails sighed and continued walking, pondering about how he should upgrade Shadowclaw. Then, after he took a couple steps, he stopped as he asked himself why Shadow was worried where Shadowpaw was. When he turned to ask him, though, he was gone. He blinked, then shrugged and walked off to his lab. He had important experiments to do.

Shadow was walking down the hall when he ran into Cream. She was walking with Cheese, and she stopped as she saw him. She smiled and waved. "Hi, Mr. Shadow!"

Shadow sighed at her voice, but he barely waved his hand at her and tried to walk off. Cream, however, looked at him and asked, "Where's Ms. Shadowpaw?" Cheese nodded and chimed, "Chao Chao!"

Shadow shrugged, but Cream wouldn't leave it at that. She was too curious for her own good. "Weren't you two fighting last? You must have seen where she went afterwards, right, Mr. Shadow?"

Shadow made a note to take back routes whenever he walked in the halls as he said to her, "Yes, but I don't know where she ran off to. Strange female, with birthdays and yelling and Chao…"

Cream tilted her head. "Birthday? Ms. Shadowpaw has a birthday?" She clapped her hands together and smiled. "That sounds like fun!" She skipped off, with Cheese following her, and Shadow sighed in relief. He made another note to mention things around Cream often to drive her away. He walked off to question somebody else where she had gone. She acted strange (and angry) on the subject of family, and Shadow was a curious, innocent little soul (cough cough) that wanted to know why.

_Meanwhile, following Cream…_

Cream walked past Kussia's room, but she made sure to skip in and say, "Hi, Mr. Kussia!"

Kussia was working on some kind of invention of his (man, him and Tails must be related somehow!). He barely nodded. Cream smiled and said, "Well, you better get some presents and a cake and stuff for Ms. Shadowpaw!"

Kussia looked up at her. "Did I just hear 'get for' and 'Shadowpaw' in the same sentence?"

Cream nodded, still smiling. "Yep! It's her birthday today!"

Kussia blinked. "It is?"

"Yep!"

"Well, that's nice to know."

"You're welcome! Bye, Mr. Kussia!"

Kussia nodded and barely waved as he turned back to what he was working on. It suddenly lost his interest as he thought of what he could do to make this work to his advantage. He pushed the things aside and opened up his camera screens. He looked at all of the cameras in the house, but Shadowpaw wasn't inside. He checked the outside cameras, and found her climbing a tree. As he watched, she lost her footing and started to slide down the trunk. She yelled something and quickly tried to climb back up. He could see the Chao giggling from the hole he was hiding in the tree.

He smirked. "Well, _this _is better than I thought. Now I have a reason to bother her."

_Back to Shadowpaw…_

Shadowpaw finally found a branch to put her feet onto. She tested the branch before she put her full weight on it, and it held up nicely.

She was almost to the hole Feather was in. He was still giggling, and she looked up and said, "When I get you, you're gonna be in big trouble!"

Feather just kept giggling, and Shadowpaw continued climbing. She grunted as she pulled herself up again, and her strength was wearing down slowly but steadily. She finally got her whole body onto a branch and sat down, sighing with exasperation. She looked up at Feather one branch up. He giggled and ducked into the hole completely.

What Shadowpaw didn't notice, though, was that Shadow was walking down the (huge) front lawn and towards the forest. He had been told by Knuckles (after he threatened to steal his nachos) that she ran after Feather in here. He walked into the trees and looked around. "Now, where'd she go?"

He heard a branch cracking, and he looked up to see Shadowpaw standing on the branch. The branch snapped, and she quickly grabbed the trunk as the branch fell down. Shadow stepped to the side, and the branch landed where he was standing a second ago. He looked down at the branch, but something else hard hit him on the head. An apple dropped to his feet. He growled and kicked the apple away and looked back at Shadowpaw hanging onto the tree for dear life.

She was about to lose her grip, but she quickly threw up her legs as soon as she let go and grabbed another branch above. She looked up at them, pulled her upper-body up, and hugged the branch. She slid around the branch so that she was upright, and then shimmied backwards to the hole. She sat on the edge of the hole and grabbed Feather, who was hiding under a big leaf. She put him onto her lap, and the Chao looked up at her with big eyes. "Paw-Paw?"

Shadowpaw wagged her finger at him. "No, bad Feather. No running off and nearly killing your 'mom'."

Feather smiled and hugged her. "Muhva!"

Shadowpaw sighed. "Well, it's better than 'Paw-Paw', I guess…"

Feather smiled and looked out of the hole. "Stoopid!"

Shadowpaw blinked. "What?"

She heard what she thought was Shadow mumbling, "I'm not stupid, you little…"

Feather had an apple in his hand. (I guess it's a hand…) He dropped it, and Shadowpaw heard a dull thud and an 'Oww!' She looked out of the hole and saw Shadow standing by the tree holding his head. He glared up at the Chao, but Feather just stuck his tongue out and made a rude noise. Shadowpaw crossed her arms and glared at Shadow. "What do _you _want?"

Shadow crossed his arms as well (man, they both do a lot of the same things…) and yelled up at her, "I want answers!"

Shadowpaw 'hmphed' and withdrew her and Feather back into the hole. "Well, you aren't gettin' any!"

As she watched Feather bite into an apple (at least he bit it first instead of shoved it down his throat) she heard Shadow say, "I'm not going to leave you alone until I get some!"

Shadowpaw rolled her eyes. "It's no skin off _my_ nose, you stubborn _rat_, you!"

"Look who's calling who stubborn!"

"Oh, yeah? At least _I_ don't go _chasing_ people around and _bothering_ them to their last nerve!"

"No, but _you_ seem to enjoy to scratch them to death!"

"As if! I only use my claws when I _need _to, or if _you_ are bothering me!"

"Oh, so you made an exception just for _me_?"

"Yeah, I'm _so_ thoughtful that I included you on my list."

"What list?"

"The list of things I could live without."

"Well, I _was _going to just find out what you meant, but _now_ I'm gonna keep bothering you until you tell me _everything!_"

"I guess you're gonna be standing there for a _long_ time, _buster. _I'm not giving **you**_ anything_ of _my _past!"

"Why not?"

"Because I'd rather not talk about it!"

"How come?"

"_Because_!" She threw a pinecone out of the hole, and it hit another tree and split into a million pieces. They fluttered down, covering Shadow in fine pinecone dust, before he shook it off and yelled up, "Because _what_?"

Shadowpaw didn't answer. She fumed in the hole as Feather played with a stick and poked the side of the hole. Shadow listened for a moment for an answer before he yelled, "Hello? Hey, 'Paw-Paw', answer me!"

Feather threw the stick outside, and it hit Shadow on the head. He growled and yelled at it, "_Will you stop that?!_" Feather just stuck his tongue out. Shadow stuck his out back at him, and Feather spit at him. Shadow blew a raspberry back at him, and Feather yelled, "Stoopid!"

"Half-pint!"

"_Stoopid!_"

"_Short-stack!_"

"_Phunny!_"

"_Short – _huh?"

Feather stuck his tongue out at him and yelled, "_Stoopid, phunny smart Shadow!_" Shadowpaw looked at him, and her eyes widened.

Shadow was looking up at the hole in confusion. He blinked. "What'd he say?"

Feather opened his mouth to say something, but Shadowpaw quickly covered his mouth with both of her paws. She yelled down, "He said nothing! Nothing at all!" She peeked slowly out of the hole to see Shadow with an eyebrow raised. She slowly withdrew back into the hole, repeating, "Nothing!"

As she hid in the hole, her paws still on Feather's mouth, Feather bit into her hand. She yowled and grabbed her paw, and Feather jumped out of her reached, as well as out of the hole. Shadowpaw gasped and quickly jumped out onto a branch to see him gliding down to Shadow slowly, giggling as his little wings flapped. Shadowpaw looked down, and the ground seemed to be so far away. She looked back up and tried to walk along the branch, muttering, "Man, now _I'm _stuck in the tree!"

As she tried to get closer to Feather, her foot slipped. She yelped as she fell off of the branch. She tried to grab another one, but it slipped through her grip and cut her. She winced in pain and squeezed it as if to squeeze the pain out of the cut. It was the same hand Feather bit. Speaking of Feather, he looked up at her falling and laughed. As she caught up to him and fell past him, she yelled, "You think that's funny, Feather-butt?"

Shadow tried to step out of the way, but Shadowpaw fell a _little _too fast for him. She rammed into him, and sent them both onto the ground. They both coughed as dirt came up like dust. Feather slowly floated down and landed on Shadow's head. He gurgled, "Phunny!"

Shadow glared at Shadowpaw lying on top of him holding her paw with her eyes shut tight in pain. "_Ahem._"

Shadowpaw opened an eye and blinked, before she yelped and quickly stood up. She had her hand behind her head rubbing the back of her neck nervously. She chuckled (nervously). "Well, I guess I'm not exactly a perfectionist at landing…heh…"

Shadow stood up and brushed himself off, and Feather looked down at him and smiled. "Phunny!"

Shadow looked up at the Chao on his head and grumbled, "Little, annoying, freaky…"

Shadowpaw quickly picked Feather off of him and put him on her shoulder. Feather gurgled and started to suck on his hand. (Again, with the Chao hand…-.-; someone needs to do research on this!) Shadow wiped off his head before he crossed his arms and asked, "So what did shortstop say?"

Shadowpaw looked at him and chuckled nervously. "Uh, nothing…he thinks you're….uhh…"

"'Uhh', what?"

"Uhh, a smart-aleck?"

"He can barely say 'funny', and you expect me to believe he can say 'smart-aleck' and know what he's even saying?"

"Well, that was the plan."

"Indeed."

Shadowpaw inched to the right, but Shadow moved in front of her. "Tell me what he meant, _and _what you meant."

She crossed her arms and looked away. "Never!"

Shadow smirked. "Oh, so he _meant _something?"

Shadowpaw sweatdropped and gulped. _Ah, shoot. I goofed…_She stuttered, "Uh, no, I meant that I'd never tell you what _I _meant! Feather didn't mean anything he said!"

Shadow scoffed. "Sure he didn't…" He smirked. "But, if he _didn't _learn how to speak, he must have _mimicked _someone. Any idea who that could be?"

Shadowpaw froze. "Umm…"

"So why don't you tell me where he learned that?"

"Uhh, Kussia's room?"

"I'm serious."

"Well, it wasn't _me!_"

"I never said it was. Why are you defending yourself so quickly?"

"Uhh, an instinct from being on the streets?"

"Right."

"Well, even if I _did _say that, _which I didn't,_" she quickly added before Shadow could say anything, "Feather would never know what it means! How could he learn what your name is and who it was connected to so quickly?"

"Easy; you kept yelling at me in front of him."

"Oh, crap…" She gulped and mumbled to herself, "This is just like that one time when that German Shepard with rabies cornered me in that alley…"

"So, you can either start by telling me what Feather meant, _or_ you can tell me what _you _meant."

Shadowpaw gulped. "Umm…uhh…err…" She looked at Feather. Feather had his tongue sticking out and was poking it and spitting. She looked back at Shadow and sighed. "Fine."

Shadow raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Wait, you're _cooperating _for once in your lifetime?"

Shadowpaw growled and crossed her arms. "I am going to _only _tell you what Feather-butt here meant." Feather spit at her. "Feather, that's rude. Stop."

Shadow glared at Feather. "Oh, so you tell it to stop when he's _not _directing it towards me?"

Shadowpaw rolled her eyes. "Do you want to know or what?"

Shadow scoffed. "Do you need an invitation to speak?"

Shadowpaw sighed and shook her head before she sat down on the ground and put Feather on her head. "Well, fine. If you really must know, I was explaining to him the household."

_Flashback_

_Shadowpaw had been talking to Feather as he sat on her bed admiring her room. He gurgled, and his eyes grew wide with curiosity. He listened to her as she talked on and on about the people in the house._

"_First, the owner of this house is Kussia, who is probably spying on us at this very moment." She looked around the room before she continued. "He's a gray squirrel, usually wearing an army jacket and being annoying, but he lets us live here, so I guess he's cool._

"_Then there's Sonic and his pals. Sonic's a blue Hedgehog with super speed. He likes to save the day and stuff like that, but he loves chili cheese dogs, for some strange reason." Then, she snickered. "Speaking of weird, Knuckles is plain psycho! He's the only red echidna – or __**echidna**__, for that matter – I know. He goes crazy for nachos and has a weird stubbornness I cannot relate to in any way."_

_As she finished saying her sentence, she saw Tails walking past her open room door. He glanced at her and shook his head before walking off. Shadowpaw growled. "That little…" Feather cooed, and Shadowpaw sighed. "I'll get him later…Feather, that orange-ish fox was Tails. He's smart enough to beat a college nerd, and that's saying something. He builds machines and junk, and mumbles very confusing things about gravity and stuff like that while he's walking."_

_She shook her head and sighed. "Also, there's a bat here, Rouge, who is really, __**really **__freaky. I mean, who wears hearts on there boots? A shirt, I can sort of understand, but on __**boots**__?!" She shook her head again. "She's always fighting with Knuckles and teasing him. It's really funny, actually. You should watch some time."_

"_Phunny!"_

"_No, it's – oh, never mind." As Shadowpaw thought, she snapped her fingers. "I almost forgot!" She picked up a picture of Shadow. "This is Shadow!"_

Shadow looked at her, eyebrow raised. "You have a picture of me? And when did you take it?"

Shadowpaw glared at him. "Shut up, I'm not done!" She cleared her throat. "Anyways…"

"_Shadow's...well, he's cool, in a way." She smirked. "It was fun talking with him about battling tactics. He's pretty smart when it comes to weapons; I never knew how many things a simple RPG gun could do! And he's not so bad at battling, either. He is the only person I've ever known that could withstand my 'Ball of Fur and Fury'. _

"_He's also really funny," she laughed. "Especially whenever he's being oblivious! That is always a thing to brighten your day." After a moment, she crossed her arms. "On the other claw, he's been getting really annoying lately. He won't stop making fun of me. He keeps making sarcastic comments about my patience, attitude, stubbornness, and other things like that. And it's my birthday, too! I mean, I have no clue what I did to him that started __**this **__up."_

_Right after she finished talking, she heard a small bell ring. Cream popped her head in and smiled at Shadowpaw and Feather. "The cookies are done, Ms. Shadowpaw!"_

_Shadowpaw brightened up. "Cookies? Ooh, save some for me and Feather, Cream!"_

_End Flashback_

"So, I explained everyone else, then I went to my room and started to teach Feather how to speak English, and then you came in." Shadowpaw looked at Feather. "And, after the yelling, Feather must have processed the words and realized that it was you I was yelling at. Why he flew to the forest, I have no clue, but he thought that 'funny' and 'smart' must have been insults and it would make me happy."

Shadow nodded slowly. "Yeah, so he yelled them at me as if he were saying 'moron' and 'idiot'."

Feather gurgled and yelled, "Stoopid!"

Shadowpaw sighed. "Yes, Feather, sometimes we're all idiots. Now, you still need to work on your 'F's'; you haven't been saying 'funny' right."

"Phunny!"

"My point exactly."

"You know," Shadow interrupted them, "I'm sure Cream knows something about Chao. Maybe she's the best person to can teach that little – I mean, teach Feather – how to speak properly."

Shadowpaw grinned. "Yeah, we should go ask her!" She jumped up on her feet and grabbed Feather. "Let's go see, Feather!" She started running towards the mansion, and Shadow shook his head and ran after her. _She can be extremely weird sometimes…_


	8. Birthday Surprise

**Chapter 8**

Birthday _Surprise_

**(You know, I think I've found a Starting Theme Song! On the Italo Euro Hits, there's the song 'La Vita E Eiffel 65 Remix', and I think that should play every time you first start a chapter! So, that's what plays for however long it takes for you to read the author's note. Later, I'll have to make a starting little movie intro thing that TV shows have! Yeah! There's a start!)**

As Shadowpaw walked into the mansion, she realized the lights were off all over the house. The way she could tell was because it was extremely dark; so dark, in fact, that when Shadow walked in he walked into Shadowpaw, and then a wall. He held his nose, cursing under his breath, as Shadowpaw looked around the house. After a moment, she quietly said, "…Hello?"

Everything was silent for a while, and she began to think they had all left for something without telling them. She tried to look for the light switch, but it was tremendously nerve-racking and, needless to say, very irritating. It took forever to find it, after quite a couple falls and knocks from Shadow. They once bumped heads hard, after Feather had jumped off of her shoulder and flew off. Shadowpaw was about to get him when they collided and said simultaneously, "Oww!" They both held their noses and grumbled darkly.

Then, the two noticed how close their faces were. There were literally a few inches between them; so close Shadowpaw could feel his hot breath on her face. She held her breath and, although he couldn't see it, turned scarlet. He froze immediately, stunned at how he could see her eyes so close to his (and how he couldn't see them _before_ he bumped into her). The scarlet orbs stared into her slightly afraid and embarrassed golden ones. (Many people say Shadow's eyes are ebony…what the hell is ebony?)

Shadowpaw stared at him for a while, unable to move, not really thinking much except 'look away' over and over again. That is, until she realized she wasn't breathing. She finally inhaled sweet fresh air and quickly whirled around, sure that the hotness on her cheeks weren't just from his breath. Shadow broke from the spell as well and quickly turned around, continuing the search for the light. Shadowpaw just stood there, trying to regain her cool. _Come on, you wimp, you were mad at him! Get angry again!_ She proved unsuccessful as Shadow at last found the light switch after running into it.

He flicked it up, and as they squinted from the brightness, they heard people yelling, "Surprise!"

Shadowpaw blinked a couple of times, trying to focus her eyes, when she recognized everyone standing and holding a red banner with the words 'Happy Birthday Shadowpaw' in huge letters. Confetti flew everywhere, and there were balloons and noisemakers and a table full of food. She opened her eyes wide with shock as everyone rushed at her and pulled her (and Shadow) towards the middle of the room, where a pile of presents lay waiting for her to open. They gently pushed her forward, while Shadow was put in front of the crowd, and Cream flew over and put a flower behind Shadowpaw's ear. She looked up at it and scowled, but Cream tugged her arm and handed her a present.

Shadowpaw looked around at the others, a mix of feelings tumbling around trying to show itself. She asked, her voice rather weak sounding, "This…this is for _me?_"

Tails nodded, a smile ear-to-ear. "Kussia told us about it, and Cream organized the party!"

Shadowpaw frowned at the mentioning of Kussia, but when she looked around she couldn't see him. He wasn't in the room, which wasn't a good sign. "Hey, where _is_ he, anyways?"

Sonic shrugged and grinned. "Who knows? Anyways, this is _your_ party!" He motioned to the boom box, the food, and everyone waiting patiently. "What're we gonna do?"

Shadowpaw looked around at the sight of everyone looking at her expectantly, and was almost on the verge of tears. She blinked a lot in trying to keep under control, and she looked down at the present in her hands. Slowly, a grin lit up her face, and she punched the air with her fist as she yelled, "Well, if this is a party, I think we need to _pump it up!!_"

Everyone cheered, except for Shadow (why should he cheer? Wasn't his idea), and Sonic turned up the volume on the boom box. Some random dance music started playing (I don't know! 'Giulia' by DJ Lhasa Italo Euro Hits or something, cry me a river!), and everyone started doing…something. (Dancing and stuff. Things you do at a party. Not that I would know…-.-) Shadowpaw was uncertain what to do, but she couldn't help but smile as she thought to herself, _they're doing all of this for __**me**__! __**ME**__!_ She tried to find another moment in her life that she had felt like this, but nothing came to her. It seemed like a dream. She laughed and jumped into the crowd, having the time of her life.

Everyone partied, except, of course, Shadow. He leaned against the wall, watching all of the others laugh and dance and eat. Once, Shadowpaw gave him a glance and caught his eye. She quickly looked down and was about to walk towards the food, but Amy grabbed her arm and pulled her the other way towards the pile of presents. She grabbed one from the pile and quickly put it in her hands. She looked at it reluctantly, the pink hedgehog encouraging her, as the others gathered 'round. (Yello, there, partners! I ain't seen you's face 'round these here parts!)

Whatever was in the box seemed pretty light. Amy smiled at her and said positively, "Open it! It won't bite!" Shadowpaw sighed as she pulled the wrapping paper off the box while Amy beamed with enthusiasm. She slowly lifted the lid, bracing herself for something pink.

Which is why she wasn't prepared.

Surprisingly, it _wasn't_ pink, as it was one of the things Amy thought she would like. Inside of the box, folded nicely and looking extremely neat, was a long black cape with an attachable hood. Shadowpaw picked it up, examining it. Amy cheered, "Put it on!"

Shadowpaw, after a moment of trying to button it, got the cape around her. It buttoned up in the front like a jacket; it had a slightly pointy collar, and it was really, _really_ long. When she looked down in dismay at the cape dragging on the ground, Amy pointed out, "You can make it shorter if you want." She tugged a string on the cape, and the cape came up an inch above the ground. Shadowpaw looked down at herself and twirled around once, making the bottom of the cape fly up like a skirt or dress. Someone in the crowd (we'll never know who…will we?) whistled as well as some claps from all around the room, making her blush.

Amy looked pleased as she asked, "Do you like it?"

Shadowpaw looked up at her, then back down, and back up again. Finally, she smiled and nodded, and Amy giggled as she commented, "It looks really good on you!"

"Thanks…" Shadowpaw flushed more as she played with the string on the cape. She felt a bit embarrassed, but as Amy picked another present for her she looked down at herself and grinned. _I look good! Although, I feel like I'm in the Matrix or something…_ She took the box with a smile and shredded the wrapping paper.

_Could this get any better?_

_Meanwhile, in Kussia's Computer Room…_

_What the crap?_

Kussia shook his head in disbelief as he replayed the video over and over and _over_ again. He couldn't believe his eyes. He actually saw, with the help of the night vision lens on his security cameras, (although he uses them for _way_ more than just security) what seemed to have been a bit of coloration on Shadowpaw's cheeks. _Shadowpaw_, for crying out loud! "That aggravating, stubborn, troublemaking, snappish feline actually blushed in my household! What a find!"

He froze the video on the screen again and peered closer to Shadowpaw's face. The darkness was just a bit of annoyance as he couldn't tell the exact coloration, but she wouldn't be turning blue, now, would she? He thought of the situation and tried to put himself into her shoes. _Alright, searching for the light in a very dark house, and I bump heads with Shadow. My nose is in extreme pain and I silently curse. Then, I look at his face nearly touching mine and…_ He sighed, closed his eyes, and crossed his arms. "Then she blushes and is frozen to the spot for a minute or two. That makes absolutely no…" He trailed off as he slowly tried to think it through again. He opened an eye to glance at the screen with the party on it, only mildly interested.

He nearly jumped out of his seat as he scrambled to press 'Pause' button. He used the zoom option and maximized an image of Amy hugging Sonic happily. The first question that popped into his mind was how she found a reason to hug him for Shadowpaw's birthday party, but it was quickly replaced with shock as he saw the red on Sonic's face. His eyes were wide for a moment, and then it clicked.

He let out a loud 'Aha!' and looked back at the screen with Shadowpaw's face still frozen. He pressed a button, and the two images appeared on the same monitor. He smirked as he put two-and-two together. "I see what's going on now!" He snickered and closed the pictures and went back to monitoring the party. He snatched a shot of Shadowpaw glancing at Shadow uneasily as she took a break from opening presents and laughed again. "This is _perfect!_ Blackmail against her, _finally!_"

He was interrupted as the sound of a doorbell rang throughout the house. Both him and the people at the party looked towards the front door. Kussia blinked and pushed a button on the panel, mumbling, "Who the heck is it?"

_Meanwhile, downstairs…_

Shadowpaw scratched her head. "Who could that be?" Tails was about to go answer, but she stopped him. "I wanna know who it is! I'll get it." He shrugged, and she walked over to the door with everyone else peeking around the corner. She opened the door and glanced at who was there.

A red fox, a bit taller than her, stood before the door. He had pretty messy hair-like fur atop of his head, as if no matter how many times he brushed it it just wouldn't go the way he wanted it to. But, still, in a way, it was…handsome. He smiled a perfect smile when he saw her. "Well, hello there, ma'am. I do believe this is…Kussia's mansion?" Shadowpaw blinked, confused, before she nodded slowly and said, "Yeah…this is Kussia's place…"

He looked at her and shook his head. "I'm sorry; I've forgotten to introduce myself." He bowed before her and took her hand. "I am called 'Sly', as you may refer to me as." He kneeled down and kissed her hand. "It is a pleasure to meet such a wonderfully lovely lady such as yourself before I even enter such a brilliant mansion."

Shadowpaw took her hand back and discreetly wiped her hand off on her cape/jacket, flushing slightly. "Umm, yeah, uhh…I'm…I'm Shadowpaw." She smiled somewhat and chuckled nervously. Amy giggled behind her and whispered to herself, "He seems to be quite the ladies' man!" Cream stood behind the crowd, standing on her tiptoes. She whined, "I can't see! Who is it?" She finally flew up above them and looked at the strange visitor. She gasped and mumbled, "Wow, he's tall, like Kussia!"

Shadowpaw stepped back, and Sly took a step in as he explained, "You see, I've been looking for a dwelling I could call my own, and an eye-full of a billboard directed me to this residence." He looked around the huge mansion and asked, "Where is this 'Kussia', anyways?"

Shadowpaw began to say he probably knew better than her, but was interrupted when said squirrel popped out of nowhere and stood beside her, arms crossed. He grinned and said, "I'm right here." Shadowpaw jumped slightly, but Sly just nodded and stuck his hand out. "I'm Sly, Mr. Kussia. I've come –"

"Yes, I know, you wanna live here," Kussia interrupted him and shook his hand. He nodded and said, "This way." He turned away and began to walk down a hallway. Sly just nodded and followed him, while Shadowpaw tilted her head and tagged along. She was curious what that gray rodent was up to.

He walked into one of the rooms, and the other two followed as well to find only a table and three or four chairs. Kussia sat in one of them and looked up at them. "Well, are you going to stand there like statues forever?"

Shadowpaw scowled and took a seat, while Sly just sat down calmly and put his hands on the table, hands together like he was praying or was some boss of the mafia or whatever. (Some weird oxymoron couple of examples, eh?) Kussia took out his laptop and put it on the table, before he asked, "What was your name again?"

"Sly."

"Ah, right…spelled normally?"

"Yes."

"Okay…hold on for a moment." He typed something on the computer. Sly glanced at Shadowpaw beside him and winked, and she looked away, feeling very shy. After a minute of waiting, a little jingle signaled something was done. He blinked, glanced at Sly, and looked back at the screen. He clicked a couple of times, and he blinked again. He turned to the red fox sitting calmly as if he had no worries at all, and he asked, "How many crimes have you committed?"

Shadowpaw looked at him in surprise. "Crimes?"

Sly glanced at her and replied, "Only about two that I remember. Why ever do you ask?"

Kussia stared at him. "It says here on your criminal record that there were countless offenses at your hands. Most of them include burglary, theft, forgery, posing as an officer…"

"You didn't ask what specific time period you wanted me to tell you in what crimes I've committed." Sly shook his head and sighed. "And what were the dates on said offenses?" Kussia glanced at the computer and answered, "About two years ago, according to these records." He looked at Sly. "But, still, there are many crimes on your record."

"And, you're trying to say…?"

"You are counted as a criminal, according to the law." He thought for a moment, then asked, "Out of curiosity, what were all of those thefts and such for? Any under-the-table jobs?"

Sly smirked. "Well, let's just say I'm not called 'Sly' for nothing."

"So Sly _isn't_ your real name?"

"I have no records showing my real name, seeing as how those papers were destroyed and my normal parents disappeared. No relatives to go back on, no people who were their friends, nothing." He laughed. "I'm a free man."

"I see." Kussia took another glanced at the computer screen, before he sighed and closed the laptop. "So, where would you like your room?"

Shadowpaw was shocked. _He's letting a criminal into the house? Has he gone nuts? _Sly grinned and asked for a map of the floors. He pointed at one, which was in the same hallway as Shadowpaw's (accidentally, of course). She was a bit nervous at the ordeal, but Kussia just rolled up the map and nodded. "You're good to go, Sly. Welcome to the mansion."

"Thank you, Kussia." He got up and walked out, leaving him and Shadowpaw alone. She looked at him and whispered, "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Kussia glanced at her and shrugged. "Why not? He's not a criminal anymore."

Shadowpaw made a face and hissed, "Anymore? Technically, he still is one! Who knows what he's been doing the past two years?"

Kussia stood up and walked over to the door. He looked over his shouldered and taunted, "What, are you afraid?"

Shadowpaw glared at him and stood up. "No! I'm not afraid of anything!" She stomped out of the room to find Sly talking to Sonic and Knuckles.

"So, you're staying, right?" Sonic asked him, curiosity sticking out of his voice like a thorn on a rose.

Sly nodded, smiling that weird perfect smile of his. "Yes, Kussia has let me stay in this excellent mansion of his." He bowed a little before him. "You must be the famous Sonic who saved the world countless times from that sadistic Dr. Robotnik."

Sonic nodded, grinning. "Yeah, I'm Sonic the Hedgehog!" He pointed at Knuckles, who stood with his arms crossed. "This is Knuckles the Echidna."

"I can see his namesake." He eyed his gloves. "Are you a natural born fighter, or did you teach yourself?"

Knuckles nodded proudly. "I'm sort of both; I'm a master at martial arts!"

Sonic agreed. "You don't want to mess with him when he gets angry!"

Sly looked at him wily. "Oh, really? I'd like to battle him sometime, actually."

Knuckles smirked and crossed his arms. "Well, you better be ready to lose!"

Sly's eyes sparkled as he replied coolly, "We'll see who will lose."

Shadowpaw shook her head. _He is good at getting on the good side of people…creepy… _She shivered. _Really good._

Sly caught her eye, and he excused himself and walked over to her. She looked away as he came up to her and asked calmly, "What are all the streamers and balloons doing around here? Was there a party going on before I came?"

Shadowpaw nodded and mumbled, "It's my birthday…today…"

Sly smiled and said, "Well, congratulations, Miss Shadowpaw! And what did you turn?"

Shadowpaw flushed a little. "Seventeen…"

Sly flashed his smile again and said, "You're another year older! What a great day to have a new friend!" He looked around at the others talking and glancing at him. "Although, it does seem like you have a lot of friends already…except…" He blinked and searched the crowd. "Where'd that black furred fellow go? I saw him walk over to the dining room, but he's not come back."

Shadowpaw frowned. "Shadow?" She walked, Sly following close behind, over to the door and peeked in. Shadow, as Sly said, wasn't there. She checked in the living room and front hall, but he wasn't there either. She sighed. "He must've gone to his room in all the excitement."

Sly put his arm around her shoulder and suggested, "Well, we better find him; I've met everyone else here, including three lovely young ladies." He winked at Shadowpaw, who looked to the ground and mumbled her agreement. She led him up the stairs and to Shadow's door, where Sly knocked on it thrice. Sly grinned at her and wrapped his arm around her waist, and Shadowpaw blushed fiercely and looked at the ground.

Shadow opened the door and was stunned to find the red fox with Shadowpaw close to him. He blinked at her red face, but Sly said before he could ask anything, "Hello…Shadow, is it? I'm Sly, and Kussia has let me take residence in this fancy mansion." He stuck his hand out and smiled. "So I guess we're housemates now."

Shadow didn't shake it, but instead just nodded and replied mordantly, "So, I see you're planning on gluing her to your side." Shadowpaw blushed even more, but Sly just shook his head and answered coolly, "We're just…getting to know each other." He smirked, his eyes gleaming. "It's better to make friends than enemies, right?"

Shadow didn't answer, so Sly just nodded and said, "Well, I just wanted to come and say 'hi'. Good-bye, Shadow the Hedgehog." He saluted him with two fingers to his head, and Shadow just nodded slightly and muttered, "Bye." He shut the door, and Sly shook his head and looked at her. "He seems a bit cold-blooded."

She just barely nodded, and Sly let go of her and asked, "So, what about that party?"

Shadowpaw looked up, still blushing a little, and mumbled, "Well, I guess it's not over, technically…"

"Then let's go downstairs, shall we?" He took her hand and smiled again, his teeth shining as if they were polished everyday or something. Shadowpaw gulped as he pulled her downstairs. _He's, like, the commercial perfect guy…wait! Stop! Why I am blushing? Gah! What's wrong with me? Help!_

_Back with Shadow…_

Shadow shook his head as he walked away from the door. "Perverted, devious fox…'Sly, right'?" He walked over and laid on his bed. "Appalling is more like it." He stared at the ceiling and scowled. "He had his arm draped over her as if he owned her! And the way his eyes twinkled when he said 'friends'…" He scowled again in disgust.

As he glared up, nasty comments going through his head, he thought of how Shadowpaw blushed like there was no tomorrow. _He's got her basically head-over-heels for him…he's toying with her like…like some predator or something. He has a dirty, dirty, __**dirty**__ mind._

After a moment of thinking, though, he frowned. "But…still, Shadowpaw _blushing?_ That's a little over the top…"

He stopped as there was another knock at the door. He sighed and yelled, "Who is it?" _Probably that fox coming to show off how overpowering he is with women or something…_

Instead, he heard Kussia ask, "Can I come in?"

Shadow sighed again. "It's your mansion, isn't it?"

Kussia entered the room, holding something in his hand. Shadow sat up and asked, "What do you want?" Kussia just put out his hand, and Shadow looked to see a video tape in his hand. He looked up, eyebrow raised. "A movie?"

"Not quite." Kussia walked over to the television (conveniently placed there) and put the tape into the VCR (also conveniently placed). He turned to him and added, "The video has been enhanced by night vision, with added color and killer graphics."

Shadow rolled his eyes. "You have _way _too much time on your hands."

Kussia just shrugged as the video began to play. At first, it was all dark. Then, Shadow could see a block of light appear with the sound of a door opening. He looked closer, and the camera zoomed to show Shadowpaw and him walking into the dark house. After a moment, he narrowed his eyes. "Is that…"

"Yep. You and Shadowpaw coming into the mansion."

"Why did…"

"I record everything that happens in this household. Just wait and watch." At this point, they had been searching for the lights for quite a while. Then, they bumped heads. Shadow winced. "That hurt."

"I know; you cursed continually under your breath as if you _wanted_ to go to –"

"Shut up, saint! I'm trying to watch!" Shadow watched as they both looked up. There was a moment of silence, where they just both stared at each other. He remembered how weird it felt, as if he were looking into her mind…and then…

"…She's blushing."

"Yep."

"_She's _blushing."

"Yeah."

"She's _blushing?_"

"You've said that already."

"But…she's…"

"_Yes,_ Shadow, she's _blushing_. I got the point the first million times I watched this."

Shadow couldn't believe his eyes. "So…she blushed _two_ times?"

Kussia glanced at him. "Wha? What'd she do?"

Shadow glanced at him and mocked, "I thought you taped everything that happens in your household."

Kussia glared at him. "Hey, that doesn't mean I watch the screens 24/7. I have a life too, you know!" He stopped the video and put it in a pocket of his army jacket. He turned to look at Shadow. "So, she did _what?_"

Shadow laid back down on his bed. "She blushed again." He looked over to see the skeptical look on Kussia's face. "She did!"

"When?"

"I opened the door not too long ago, and Sly had come with Shadowpaw by his side. _Literally_, by his side."

"In what way?"

"He had his arm around her."

"Ah…and…?"

"She was blushing as if she was turning into a beet or something."

"…You mean, she wasn't fighting back or…or _anything?_"

"Nope. Just stood there, looking at the ground, as Sly introduced himself. That dirty, nasty minded…he was playing with her as if she was putty in his hands."

"Is that a hint of anger in your voice?"

"Yes, anger at the fact that he thinks such twisted, perverted…"

"No, not that…maybe…"

"Maybe what?"

"…Jealousy?"

Shadow was quiet for a moment, and Kussia wondered if he was going to respond. Then, he did something sort of…unexpected.

"Jealousy? _Jealous?_ Of _what?_ Him hanging all over her like some drunkard? How could I be jealous of _that? Who would want to be like __**him**__? How could you even THINK of me being __**jealous**__?_"

He got _very_ angry.

Kussia held up his hands in defense. "Hey, I wasn't saying you were jealous of _him._"

"Then what?" Shadow sneered. "His '_charm_'?"

"No."

"His _smile?_"

"No, I –"

"His ability to get under people's skin?"

"Will you let me talk?" Kussia returned the glare Shadow gave him and shook his head. "Geez, you're almost worse than Shadowpaw when you're angry."

"What _do_ you mean, then?"

Kussia glanced at the door to make sure he had an open escape route. He got ready to run and said the most daring, stupid thing anyone ever did, can, and will do. Probably the last thing he would do, too.

Taunted Shadow.

_Downstairs…_

Everyone could hear it when Shadow exploded, and Kussia's cries for help. Plus the sound of gunfire. Shadowpaw looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "What did that idiot do _this_ time?"

Sly looked up as well and asked, "Does this happen often?"

Shadowpaw shrugged. "One way or another."

Suddenly, crashes were heard close by, and Kussia slammed the door open and zoomed through the room, an expression of utmost fear on his face. The door slammed shut behind him, but then Shadow smashed through it and shot like a rocket after him. Shadowpaw tried to get his attention, but he ran right past her and up the stairs after Kussia. Angry at being ignored, she growled and ran after them.

Sly blinked in surprise at sudden the burst of activity, but he soon smiled and mumbled to himself, "Well, this place sure is lively!"

Shadow and Kussia ran down the twisting hallways, and Shadowpaw swerved around corners and ran as fast as she could, trying to keep up with them. She lagged far behind, however, and soon lost sight of them. She screeched to a halt and stood there, panting and regaining her breath. She leaned against a wall, listening for the crashing of them running or screams of terror. Surprisingly, she heard nothing.

After a couple of minutes, she stood up straight and glanced around. Silence filled the air around her. Her hair stood on end for some reason, and she tensed slightly. She called out, "Shadow! Kussia? Where'd you guys go?"

There was no answer, and she sighed in aggravation. "Great, I've lost them…" She shook her head and closed her eyes. "What luck…" She scolded herself for coming here when she opened an eye and realized…

…She had absolutely no idea where she was.

She opened the other eye as well and glanced around again, trying to see where she was. The hallway was basically the same as the others, but she couldn't recognize any of the rooms. She was lost in a maze of corridors.

She grumbled and began to walk back the way she came, but a clanking sound stopped her. She froze as she thought she heard metallic footsteps. They echoed throughout the halls and gave her a bad feeling. It seemed as if they were coming closer. She gulped and looked around. "K-K-Kussia? Is that you?" The footsteps continued, and she gulped again. She was beginning to get very creeped out.

She took a couple of steps backwards, but she bumped into something. She squealed and jumped up so high she almost touched the ceiling. She whirled around and held her paws up to defend herself, her heart pounding as if it would break out of her ribcage. She immediately felt foolish and stupid when she saw it was only Shadow, and she put her hands down and looked down, embarrassed. He looked as if he was still very angry, but he looked at her oddly and blinked. "Was that a squeal?"

Shadowpaw flushed and kept her gaze towards her feet. Shadow stared at her. "What is wrong with you?"

She looked up and said, "Huh?" Shadow was shaking his head, looking as if he just couldn't figure her out. He sighed. "You've been red in the face _how many times now?_ And you're acting so strange I'm beginning to think you've killed the real Shadowpaw." He crossed his arms. "What is _wrong_ with you?"

Shadowpaw blinked. "Wha…what do you mean? Killed…_what?_"

Shadow sighed. "Never mind…but, please, refrain from being out of your original character…"

(I think Shadow's been around me for too long! Heehee!)

He turned away and began to walk off as Shadowpaw stood there, thoroughly confused. She blinked, still trying to figure out what he meant, when she remembered why she originally followed him. She said, maybe a bit too loud, "Wait!"

Shadow stopped and looked back at her. "What?"

Shadowpaw looked away timidly, but she kept glancing at him as she asked slowly, "What…what did Kussia do?"

Shadow was silent, not moving at all, and Shadowpaw hastily added, "I mean, it's just out of curiosity! It's not, like, _super_ important or anything, like it's gonna kill me if I don't know! I mean, it's just –"

"…Here." Shadow flung something at her, and she gasped and quickly caught it in midair. She looked down at the tape in her hands in surprise, and when she glanced at Shadow he just turned away with a short, almost sarcastic sounding, "_Happy Birthday._" He walked around a corner, leaving Shadowpaw alone with the video. She blinked, wondering what just happened. She turned the tape over in her hands, but all that was written there was the date and – wait, _date?_

She looked closer, and her eyes widened as she realized this was from today. Also, under the date was two capital 'S's in permanent marker. She scratched her head and mumbled, "What's 'SS' stand for? …Oh well, I guess if I watch it I'll find out…"

**Uh-oh…you know what video tape that is, right? And you know what that means…**

**Trouble!**

**Do you think I should make an actual movie for this series? I've already planned the beginning song/intro thingie for it, and I'm working on the credits! I'm poking the area of animation, and I'm thinking of making a whole bunch of movies based on this story! Maybe even others! What do ya guys think? Feedback, please! Oh, and from all of you big time animators, can you PRETTY PLEASE give me some hints; i.e. favorite programs, where to find sounds, where to upload the movies, etc! PLEASE! I'll love you FOREVER! (glomp)**

**Thankies!! (smiles happily)**


	9. Shocking Realizations

Chapter 9

Shocking Realizations

**Ooh, catchy title!!! Hee hee… Don't you just wanna figure out what they realize? Heh, I'm so evil… So, yeah, a (rare) author's note!**

**Disclaimer: Sonic, blah, blah, blah, don't own it, blah, blah, blah, Sonic Team does, blah, BLAH!**

**Reviewers: As I said in my last note last chapter, I want to make a movie out of this. I am currently trying to make the basic look of the intro and credits. One day, I will release it onto the net, but, until then, I will rely on you for ideas and stuff! You are my BLOOD! …Well, okay, not really…still!**

**Story-wise: I hate it when I get all 'amateur writer' in my stories. You know, when they just rush through the scene with little or no details whatsoever? Like 'See Spot run.' Very boring! Catch me and tell me so I can bang my laptop over my head multiple times!!! (And make up for it in later chapters!)**

**Well, that's it! See ya after the chapter! Enjoy!**

Kussia barely peeked out of the crack open door. He had hid in this room quite a while ago, when Shadow was still _super_ angry. His breath was still ragged from running so fast, and his chest hurt from his heart pounding so hard against his ribcage. (Well, actually, I don't think that's possible…maybe lack of oxygen?) He slowly slipped out, his ears listening hard for _any_ sign of danger.

Like the complete silence.

Other than the sound of his breathing, it was all quiet. If you dropped a pin, it would be like a lion roaring. It was a bad sign; at least, he thought so. Or, maybe he was just paranoid like that.

He crept down the hall quickly, ready to hide in an instant. He edged around the wall until he reached his destination. He was still panting as he pressed a hidden button in the wall. It fell into the wall to be replaced by a number pad, where he entered the code to his secret elevator that led directly to his secret room. It fell back in and was replaced by another pad, where he laid his hand…hand-paw…on the screen. A green laser scanned it, and it fell back into the wall and was _again_ replaced by another pad. He plucked a strand of fur and put it on it, which was scanned as well, and finally it sunk back, and the hole in the wall was hidden by the holograph projector.

A door opened up in the wall to reveal the elevator, and he began to step inside. Then, he froze. He thought he heard something. He turned around and examined his surroundings; the potted plant in the corner, the other door down the hall. It all seemed normal enough. He glanced at a security camera above him. He would check later just to quench his curiosity.

He entered the elevator, and the door slowly closed behind him. Maybe a bit _too_ slowly. Man, was he paranoid today… But he had good reason. Shadow was out to get him. And, he just realized, he left that tape in Shadow's VCR. _It's as good as gone, _he thought with a grin, _so I'm glad I made extras!_

He watched as the floor numbers flashed, slowly going higher and higher. He stood there, watching it, for a long, long, _long_ time. It slowly went up towards the floor where his room was.

Really, _really _slowly.

Five minutes went by like that, him staring at the numbers, before he began to grow bored. He hated using this thing, but if it meant he was safe from Shadow, then this was his best bet. But…it was still frickin' slow.

Finally, he grew frustrated and looked around for a button. He felt around the pad before he found a big red one with an 'aha!' and pressed it. At first, nothing happened; the elevator was still crawling at what seemed like a snail's pace, and he was still bored out of his –

_Whoosh!_

The elevator shot up unexpectedly, going at a blinding speed up. Kussia had to strain to keep himself from being thrown on the floor from the force of gravity pulling on him. It felt as if a one-thousand pound weight was trying to pull him through the floor. He could barely open an eye to see which floor he was at.

_Fwump!_

Suddenly, the elevator stopped abruptly, making him fly up and hit the ceiling. He held his head and bit his lip trying not to curse. The door opened with a hiss, and he stepped out grumbling to himself. He walked into a room that had screen everywhere. Literally. There was barely a spot on the wall where there weren't TVs showing scenes around the mansion. He walked over to his chair and sat down before his control panel. Screw the one downstairs; _this_ was the real camera room.

He quickly commanded, "Scan for VCRs receiving videos." He wanted to know where his piece of blackmail had gone. A little window popped up on the main screen in front of him. After a moment of it flashing the words 'Searching', it beeped in response and showed Shadowpaw's room. Said cat was in there, with something in her hands…

He moved his mouse over her and said, "Computer, zoom." The feline was enlarged, and he saw that she did indeed have the video tape. In fact, she was just now putting it in the VCR. He groaned and cursed Shadow for giving it to her. He obviously knew that, in hr hands, there might be some bloodshed.

_That little rat._

_Meanwhile, with Shadow…_

The black hedgehog was in the living room, playing his game (of course) to blow of some steam. He shot each and every single person and monster about five times, grumbling the entire time. Sonic walked past, but stopped to watch him for a moment. He growled as something shot at him, and he jammed the X button a million times and blew the thing to pieces. The blue hedgehog backed up a bit and walked away slowly, not looking at him.

After a while, Shadow began to grow bored of killing the virtual enemies. Personally, he wanted to wring Kussia's neck instead, but that was out of the question. You can't kill what you can't find. So, he instead thought of what Shadowpaw's reaction to the video tape would be…

Before he even got to think for too long, however, he heard something crash upstairs. He paused the game and looked up at the ceiling, wondering what was going on. He heard something glass break, and then some malicious yelling and cursing, and he then assumed that it was Shadowpaw.

Who else would it be, anyways?

He stood up, game forgotten, and walked up the flight of stairs. As he got to the floor their rooms were on, however, he stepped out of the angry feline's way as she stomped past him in the direction towards Kussia's room. Deciding it would be fun to watch, he followed her.

She stood before the door, hands clenched in fists, and yelled at the top of her lungs, "_Kussia, get your damn squirrelly ass out here __**right now!**_" She kicked the door once, making a loud '_thud_', but there was no reply on the other side. She growled in frustration, grabbed the doorknob, and jerked the door so hard the hinges almost broke. It opened with a slam, and she stomped into his room…

"_He's not in here! Damn!_" She kicked his bed in frustration, only to be rewarded with a throbbing foot. She grabbed it and hopped around on one leg for a bit, cursing to absolutely no one, before Shadow dared to poke his head in and look around. She saw him and, walking up to him, asked, "Have you seen that dirty, rotten, good-for-nothing –"

"If I had, he would be dead." He stated bluntly, and she grumbled, "Damn…" She looked around Kussia's room, looking for some sort of clue. When she found none, she growled and pushed past Shadow out of the room. As she walked away, he heard her mumble to herself, "'Happy birthday', indeed…"

_Back to Kussia…_

The grey squirrel wiped his forehead and sighed in relief. "Thank _God_ I just replaced those hinges…" He turned to look at his other screens, but then stopped. Something was on his dashboard.

"Feather! Feather, _get off!_" The little Chao giggled and pointed at him. "Cwazay!" Kussia growled and tried to snatch him, but he jumped over him and sat on his head. He looked down at him and gurgled, "Dada."

"What?" Kussia frowned and grabbed the little tyke. He stared at him as the Chao repeated, "Dada!"

He examined the Chao; it seemed that it was turning into a Dark Chao. It was a dark shade of grey, which was evidence of a Dark nature. But, instead of the normal bent tip of its head, in its place were two little horn-like things jutting up from his head, like ears…

He mumbled, mostly to himself, "You're really taking after your 'muhva', aren't you, you little rascal?" The Chao waved his arms and gurgled, "Rascah, rascah!" After a moment, he realized there were claws on his hands and feet as well. He held him away from him and mumbled, "Yep, just like her…" After a moment of thinking, he smirked and grabbed a picture out of one of his folders. He held it up to Feather and said, "I'm not your daddy, Feather; _this_ is your daddy." The Chao gurgled and grabbed the picture of Shadow. After a moment, he hugged it and said, "Dada!"

Kussia put the little Chao down, and as he stumbled around the room he wondered how he got in here. Feather gurgled and skipped away, and the grey squirrel shook his head and sighed. "What is it that makes Chao so adorable, anyways?" He was about to turn around to go back to his screen, but then he saw something.

Or, to be specific, some_one_.

The fox picked up Feather, who had ran up to him and held up his arms as if he wanted to be held, and stepped out of the shadows. "Well, _this _is a nice add-on to the place, eh?"

Kussia blinked. "Sly? How in the world did you sneak in here?"

The red fox smirked. "Well, let's just say I've had practice. Besides," he ran his hand through the fur on his head and smirked, "They don't call me 'Sly' for nothing."

Kussia looked at him suspiciously as he patted the Chao in his hands, and he added, "But _I_ have also been trained in the sneaking field. How could you have beaten me at my own game?"

The red fox laughed and put Feather down. As the little darkening Chao ran off somewhere, he turned to the curious grey squirrel. "You know, curiosity killed the cat."

"But satisfaction brought him back."

"Ah, I see your game." He walked over so he was almost face-to-face with him. "You see, spying was never really _your_ game. I was spying before you were even born."

"I'm twenty-one…"

"And _I'm_ twenty-five."

"You were spying at the age of four?"

"Actually, I started at three," He began to pace around the room slowly, looking up at the ceiling. "I never knew my parents because I was taken from them the night I was born. Whether they are alive to this day or not, I don't know," he paused for a moment, before continuing, "And I'd rather not find out. Life is better without roots to hold me down."

"Out of curiosity," Kussia began to pace as well, and they ended up pacing in a circle, like two lions staring each other down, "Did your spying days end the same time as your crimes did?"

"You catch on quick," he grinned at him, but Kussia didn't return the gesture, "I left my organization when I was twenty-three, because they had started to talk about how I should be 'dealt with'." He was still smiling, but it was hiding a scowl. "Although I was the best of my class, if I was caught I could be a serious breach to their security. It seems they thought I was either 'not loyal' or 'most likely to be caught'. Mostly the latter, because," he stopped smiling and looked away at the ceiling, "Since I was just about born into the association, I had no other home."

"And so, you decided to live here because it would give you a temporary home as well as –"

"Make me practically disappear." He looked back at the squirrel and commented, "You're cleverer than you let on."

"Likewise to you, 'Sly'."

They both stopped, staring at each, when Sly asked, "Is _this_ where you watch everyone?"

Kussia kept his gaze as he asked, "How do you know I still spy?"

Sly laughed at him and turned towards the control panel. "You act as if you hid your cameras you placed around the house! Besides, it's hard to hide things from a spy."

"So I've noticed."

_Meanwhile, with Shadow and Shadowpaw…_

"Aargh, _where is he?!?_" Shadowpaw banged on the kitchen counter, making everything on the counter shake. "_How could he elude me for this long?!?_"

"Easy," Shadow was sitting at the table, rolling his eyes, "There are more than one hundred floors in this mansion. We have only checked ten."

"_Shut up, moron!_" She glared at him, and he returned the favor. They stood there for a while, hatred growing, when Cream walked into the room. She looked at the two of them and, with a giggle, asked innocently, "Watchya guys doing?"

They both slowly looked at her, (Shadowpaw's eye twitching) and the young rabbit tilted her head and asked, "What's the matter, Ms. Shadowpaw?"

The cat looked as if she was about to explode, but after a while she suddenly calmed down and smiled at her. "Oh, just Kussia again! You know how he is!"

Shadow looked at her strangely as Cream blinked naively. "Really? What did he do this time?"

Shadowpaw, still smiling, said, "Oh, he just took a video of something he shouldn't have. You know, like a secret?" The rabbit smiled and clapped her hands together. "Ooh, I love secrets!"

Shadowpaw walked over and patted her on the back. "Really? Well, that's great!" She smiled mischievously and winked at Shadow before continuing, "You know, I have a favor to ask of you, Cream."

Cream looked up at her curiously and asked, "What?"

"I was wondering if you could, you know, look around for me and tell me if you see Kussia. Just…holler, and I'll know." She gave a secretive wink to her, and Cream giggled and nodded. "Okay!" She ran out of the room, and Shadowpaw sighed. "Man, that smile hurt my face…"

"How is _she _going to find Kussia?" Shadow asked her, confused and bored at the same time after that display. "She's only a little girl with a super hyper and high sugar-consuming rate."

The feline grinned deviously and replied, "Don't you know the power of little kids? They can get into _anything,_ whether you want them to or not, all the while being the most annoying thing possible!" She walked over and sat down next to him, putting her feet up on the table and hands behind her head. "She'll definitely find him."

"If it makes you feel better to say that…" The hedgehog highly doubted it would work, but it was better than hearing Shadowpaw growl and grumble and whine and complain all day…

_Following Cream…_

The young rabbit hummed as she skipped down the hall. She was glad to help Ms. Shadowpaw with something. "I'm _always_ glad to help my friends!" She had picked up Cheese on her way, and they little Chao sat on her head and gurgled, "Chao!"

She looked at her hands and frowned. "My gloves are filthy…" She looked around and found a door slightly ajar. She peeked in and saw a pair of extra gloves on a bed. She didn't bother to wonder whose it was, but just resolved that she would return them to whoever it was as soon as she got her own.

Suddenly, she stopped and tilted her head. "Hm?" She thought she had heard something. She skipped out of the room and looked around the corner in the hall. Feather was scratching at a metal door, gurgling something in Chao language. She smiled and ran over to him to hug him. "Hello, Feather!" The Chao hugged her back, but he quickly let go and pointed at the door. "Stoopid!"

"Huh?" Cream stood up and walked slowly over to the door. It was strange to see a metal door in the middle of a hallway that had no rooms. She frowned and reached out to touch it, mumbling, "What's this…?"

As her eyes examined it, she found a strange thing in the wall beside it. The wall had flickered a little, and she put her had on it…and through it! The wall suddenly changed, and she stared at where something else was there. A hidden button stuck out a little, and curiosity eventually caused her to press it. A hole appeared in the wall, and a number pad came up with 1-0 and the pound and # sign. She blinked and looked at it for a while, thinking, when Feather flew up and giggled, looking a little mischievous. He began to push random buttons, gurgling and giggling, and Cream told him, "No, Feather, don't play with –"

_Ching! _Suddenly, the pad went back down, and up came another one in the shape of a hand. Cream stared at for a moment, thinking, before she giggled and put her hand on it. "I can't resist!"

A green light shone on the pad, and it went down as well. She wondered what would happen next, but something caught her eye. As the next pad came up, she picked up a little hair off of her temporary gloves. She made a face and said, "Eww, someone's hair!" She flicked it away, and Feather giggled and blew it up in the air. It floated down slowly and landed on the pad that had just appeared on the wall. After a green light shone on it, the pad disappeared, and the door suddenly opened.

Cream stared at it, blinking, until both Cheese and Feather grabbed her arms and gurgled, pointing at it. She smiled at them and asked, "Should we go in?" The Chao both nodded, and she giggled, "Okay!" They stepped in to find it was an elevator, and the doors closed behind them as they looked around. It looked as if it was only intended for one person, but since they were all small they fit nicely enough.

The young rabbit giggled again and looked at the Chao as the elevator began to go up. "Isn't this fun?"

The two tykes nodded with a gurgle, and Feather said, "Fun! Fun!"

**That is about two or three pages short than I usually do, but I really wanted to update now, seeing as how I'm going to my dad's in five days. I might not be able to update there! Oh, the HORROR!**

**So, isn't it funny how Cream got through Kussia's security? I thought it was hilarious! I wanted her to find him, so I had to get her there somehow… Anyhoo, I hope you like me a little cuz I updated! I do! Bye, until the next (fun-packed, laugh-filled) episode of 'Just Your Regular Daily Chaos!'**


	10. Found You!

Chapter 10

Found You!

**Hello, people of the world! I have updated! WOOT! I am glad that you guys like the story, and I am no longer putting a limit on when I update. However, my family might…and just now going into high school…if I PASS…**

**Ahem! Yeah, **_**anyways**_**, enjoy the show (even though it isn't actually a show)!**

Sly rolled his eyes and said, "Alright, whatever." He put the cards down as Kussia smirked at him. "I guess you win, squirrelly."

"Ha! _Told_ you I'd beat you!" He picked up all of the cards and held out his hand. "Pay up."

The red fox rolled his eyes again and handed him the twenty dollars. As Kussia put it in his pocket, he asked, "Why do you need the money, _anyways?_ You're frickin' rich!"

Kussia looked at him. "Who said I needed it? I just wanted to take it from you."

"Whatever, army-butt." Sly kicked back and relaxed, glancing at the main TV. "When do you think she'll give up?"

"Who, Shadowpaw?" Kussia glanced at the screen. "Knowing her, it'll be a while." At the moment, she was sitting on the couch in the living room, arms crossed, and watching a wrestling channel on TV. Next to her, Shadow was playing a video game on the TV beside it. Even though she was doing something else, the way she sat showed she wasn't done searching for him; her ears were perked up, and every so often she would glance around.

Then, a big _clunk _alerted their attention away from the screens. They both looked towards the elevator door, and a little light beside it shone, saying 'arrival'. Kussia blinked and mumbled, "What the…" He walked over to the door and examined it. Who was in there?

_Voosh!_

"Stoopid!"

"Chao!"

"Mr. Kussia!"

"_Aaah!_"

Cream had suddenly tackled him into a hug, as well as the two Chao following her, and he sweatdropped and tried to push them off. He was failing miserably, however, and he asked them, "What are you doing here?"

"We found you, Mr. Kussia!" The little rabbit laughed, and then looked up to see Sly looking at her confused. The two blinked as they stared at each other for a moment, before she smiled and said, "Hi, Mr. Sly! Are you having a party up here?"

Finally, Kussia managed to push her off, and she giggled and said, "It looks like you two are having fun! Ooh!" She saw the cards on the table. "Cards!" She ran over and grabbed the deck of cards, sat on the floor, and began to try to make a castle out of it. The grey squirrel sighed and turned to Sly. "I wonder how she got here…" After a moment, the red fox held up his hands defensively. "Hey, don't look at _me_."

Feather and Cheese looked at each other and nodded before they tackled Kussia again, catching him by surprise and knocking him over again. They both giggled as Kussia glared at them. "You little…"

Shadowpaw's Chao pointed at him and gurgled, "Stoopid!" Kussia pretended to bite his hand, but the Chao quickly retracted it and scolded him with a 'bah!'

"So, watchya guys doing up here?" Cream asked them as she continued making her little castle. She hummed as she put layer upon layer carefully and slowly, as if afraid the slightest twitch would ruin in. (Which it probably would…) She looked up and asked, "Were you guys playing card castles?"

"Umm, _yeah, sure, _now how did you get up here?" Kussia grumbled under his breath, "I made it so only _I _could get through, and _two _people, one a spy and the other a little girl, got through in under an _hour_."

"Oh, well…" She explained how Feather pressed the buttons, she put her hand onto it, and then the hair on the gloves. She giggled and said, "I'm sorry I borrowed your gloves without permission, Mr. Kussia. Mine were really dirty!"

"Right…" Kussia sighed and shook his head. "I need to reinforce that elevator…"

Sly nodded as he watched Cream put the final touches onto her castle. It was almost as tall as her, and she put the last card in its place. "There!" She said, extremely happy that she finished. She stood up and did a little pirouette, surprisingly not knocking down the castle, and giggling, "I'm a princess!"

Then, getting an idea, she stopped and ran over to Kussia. "Ooh, Mr. Kussia! I have to show you something!" She grabbed his arm and began to drag him to the elevator. He tried to pull free, but, _man_, that little girl had a surprisingly strong grip. On the way, he accidentally kicked the cards, and they all collapsed into a pile. Cream, however, didn't seem to notice as she got him into the elevator, somehow running in and out quickly to bring Sly and the Chao with them, and then pressed the '1' key. Seeing the buttons, Feather's eyes lit up, and he flew over to the control panel, gurgling in Chao. As his gaze fell upon a certain red button, his eyes shone like diamonds and he put his hand over it.

Kussia's eyes grew wide. "Don't."

The Chao looked over at him and smirked. "Stoopid."

_Vwoosh!_

_Meanwhile, downstairs…_

Shadowpaw sighed after she swallowed the rest of the tuna and threw the can behind her. It made a _clunk _as it fell on the pile of cans in the trash can. Shadow sat on the other side of the table, his arms crossed and his ebony eyes staring at her. As she grabbed another can, he commented, "You've got _quite _an eating habit."

"Shut up." She grumbled, poking her claw into the can's lid and turning it, causing it to pop off, and she put it on the table and downed the can. Picking up the lid and putting it in the now empty can, she threw it behind her as well. _Clunk!_

Shadow said sarcastically, "Nice shot."

Shadowpaw rolled her eyes and replied, "Three points."

Then, Sonic walked into the room. Immediately, the air around Shadow seemed to get a bit colder as he cast a glare towards the blue hedgehog. He seemed to ignore it, however, as he walked over to fridge and opened it up, probably raiding it of chili dogs again. He grabbed a handful, closed the door, took a bite out of one, and glanced at them. The black hedgehog and feline seemed to be staring at each other, bored, and he decided to liven things up.

"So, how are you guys?"

Shadowpaw just shrugged, and the hedgehog across from her didn't reply at all. Not exactly the response he wanted. "You guys looked bored."

"Oh, really?" Shadowpaw said sarcastically. "I wouldn't have noticed. Thanks for the tip."

"Geez, don't bite my head off…" The blue hedgehog mumbled, a little uncomfortable as the two at the table glared at him. After a moment, he commented, "Kussia's still hiding?"

"Unfortunately," They both grumbled, and the feline grabbed another can to eat. Sonic sighed and went to walk out of the room, but Shadowpaw asked, "You have no idea where he could have gone?"

"Nope." The blue hedgehog slipped out of the room, leaving the two alone and fuming. Shadow finally said, "So you _still _think that Cream will find him?"

"_How many times do I have to tell you?_" Shadowpaw glared at him. "She is the ultimate seeker in this house. Trust me."

"Whatever."

It was quiet for a moment more, as they both fumed at the fact that Kussia wasn't dead yet. They both wanted to wring his neck for how annoying he was, and even more so for the comment he gave him (Shadow) and the video he made (Shadowpaw). They weren't going to forget it anytime soon.

Then, Shadowpaw's ears rotated and she suddenly grew alert. The black hedgehog before her blinked and said, "What?" She, however, put a finger to her lips and stood up, her ears still twitching. He got up to follow her as she ran out of the kitchen and down the hallway. They both ran down a bunch of hallways, with Shadowpaw stopping every once in a while to check where the source of whatever she was hearing was. Then, they rounded a corner, and stopped.

"Why is there a hall in this house without any rooms?"

"Why are you asking me?" Shadowpaw looked around, wondering whether her ears were working properly or not. She started to walk slowly down the hall, being as quiet as possible as se tried to pinpoint the sound. She kept looking around, starting to wonder what she doing here, when she stopped. The hedgehog was going to say something, but then he heard it too…

_Meanwhile, with Kussia and the others in the elevator…_

"So, what you're saying is…"

"Shadowpaw is waiting out there for Kussia…" Sly said, a bit incredulous.

"And you're her delivery girl?" Kussia finished nervously, looking at the door in fear. Where there's Shadowpaw, there would probably be Shadow…

"Yep!" Cream smiled and did a small curtsy. "She wanted me to tell her if I found you, and I'm a good friend!"

"Uh-oh…" Kussia glanced at Sly. "If I don't get of this alive…"

"Oh, come on!" Sly rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "What could she possibly do?"

Kussia was about to say something when a little bell rang as the elevator stopped. They had reached their destination. They all watched the door as it slowly opened up…

"_Hello,_ Kussia."

Kussia gulped as Shadowpaw cracked her knuckles, with Shadow right beside her. He looked as angry as she did, both of their eyes blazing with a raging fire.

"…H-_Hi, Shadowpaw!_" The gray squirrel chuckled nervously as he tried to find a way to get out of this deathtrap. He edged a little to the right to allow the little rabbit beside him to jump out of the elevator. "I found him, I found him!" She cheered and smiled at Shadowpaw, who nodded and gave a short 'good job', not taking her eyes off of Kussia. She looked as if she wanted to kill him by just _staring _at him.

"…What are _you _doing here?"

"Don't play stupid with _me_, Kussia," she spat, hatred dripping from her words, "You _know _what I want."

"Your hide." Shadow said before the gray squirrel could ask. Kussia gulped, giving a glance at the red fox beside him. He, however, was staring at Shadowpaw with surprise, as if he didn't expect her to be so angry. He hadn't seen her in one of her moods, obviously.

After a moment, however, Shadowpaw realized her prey was being distracted. She looked over at the red fox and blinked. "Sly? What are _you _doing here?"

"Long story." He gave a smile, still looking a little nervous. She just shook it off and went back to glaring at Kussia. He had tried to sneak over to the buttons to press the 'close doors' button, but he froze when he realized she was watching him. He chuckled nervously and said, "I guess I'm not gonna get a head start this time, eh, Shadow?"

"_Nope._"

_Ding dong!_

Just before they were going to lunge and kill him, the doorbell had rung. Thankful for a distraction, Kussia yelled, "_I'll get it!_" He quickly pushed past them both and ran down the hallway, and after a moment of confusion both Shadow and Shadowpaw raced after him. Sly blinked, hoping the gray squirrel was fast enough, and looked down at Cream. "You must be a _really _good friend."

The rabbit smiled and nodded. "Yep! I _always _keep my promises!"

"Indeed…" The red fox nodded and walked out of the elevator, now curious who was at the door. Might as well find out, since he had nothing else to do.

_At the door…_

Kussia swung the front door open only to be overwhelmed by whoever was there. Before he could even yelp, the two angry housemates chasing him leapt onto him as well, and he was crushed under _three _bodies. The other two, however, realized they weren't just on their prey…

"I finally _found you!_"

Both Shadow and Shadowpaw got up quickly as the fox stood up, holding Kussia in a tight hug. She had a periwinkle coat and wore a yellow tank top, a flowery skirt, and sandals. Her eyes were a deep purple, and she was smiling as if she couldn't stop. The squirrel in her arms, however, wasn't so happy.

"Oh…hi…Periwinkle…"

The fox giggled and swung him around a bit, still hugging him tightly. "I'm _so glad _I found you!" After a moment, she let go of him, letting him take a deep breath. "It's been so _long!_"

"Yes…" Kussia sighed, as if he wished it had been longer. "…It has."

The fox smiled, then saw that he had other people in his house. She cleared her throat and held out her hand to them. "Hi! I'm Periwinkle Bloom."

Shadow and Shadowpaw just stared at the fox in confusion, ignoring the hand, when suddenly a certain red fox appeared… Sly pushed them out of his way and grabbed Periwinkle's hand. "Why, _hello,_ young miss!" He shook it and flashed one of his perfect smiles. "I'm Sly, at your service," He gave a small bow and kissed her hand, as he had done with Shadowpaw. "What is a _beautiful_ young lady doing here?"

"Oh…" Periwinkle blushed and looked away shyly. She looked back at Kussia and said, "I've been looking for you for_ever!_ I was about to give up until I saw the billboard!"

"Ah, yes…" He muttered. "The billboard…"

Periwinkle looked at the people staring at her and started to explain. "Me and Kussia went to school together! I couldn't bear it when he left, so I tried to follow him. I was unsuccessful, and I feared I'd never see him again…"

"If only, if only…" Kussia muttered, quiet enough so only Shadowpaw and Shadow could hear. They both glanced at him, a little curious as to what else happened back then.

"I also read that you're accepting people into your house." She said, looking a little hopeful.

"Oh, that's just something they added, I –"

"Yes!" Shadowpaw suddenly interrupted. Shadow looked at her questioningly, but she just winked at him and walked over to Periwinkle. She put an arm around her shoulder to guide her into the house, saying, "It _was _getting kind of lonely here! I'm sure he'll be _glad_ to have you here!"

Kussia tried to stop her, but Shadow quickly grabbed his shoulder, glaring at him. The squirrel chuckled nervously, but he kept glancing at the hallway where the two girls had disappeared. He mumbled, "Can't we negotiate or bargain about this?"

"_Nope._"

"Damn…"

"You're lucky; we could have killed you on the spot."

"…Can you still do that?"

"_Nope._"

"…I hate you."

"The feeling's mutual."

_Later…_

Shadowpaw sat in her bed, feeling pleased with herself. She didn't get to kill him in the end, but she _did _get the best possible torture-device for Kussia; Periwinkle. She would _not _stop following him, and there wasn't a moment that wasn't filled with her hugging him or talking to him or something else that got on his nerves.

Shadow was there as well, sitting on the bed and playing his game (of course). He was also glad of the results for the day. Periwinkle's annoying pursuit would suffice instead of Kussia's tail mounted on his wall (or Shadowpaw's, depending on how angry she was). He continued to beat his game a hundred times over as Shadowpaw sighed and muttered, "I wonder what that fox is doing…"

_Crash!_

"_Aaah!_"

The feline ran over to her door and peeked out only to jump back to avoid being run over by Kussia, who was quickly followed by Periwinkle, yelling, "Come back, Kussia!"

Curious, Shadowpaw ran to follow them. They ended up in the living room when the purple fox finally succeeded in tackling him in a big hug, knocking him onto the ground. She squeezed him tightly and said, "Let's never get separated _ever again!_"

Shadowpaw snickered behind the couch as she was suddenly accompanied by Shadow as he mouthed, "They at it again?" She nodded in response, and they both watched Kussia's feeble attempts to get her away. "Oh, I think I left the oven on! I'll be…right back…" He tried pushing her away, but it was as if she was glued to him. She giggled and said, "Isn't this _great?_ We're together again!"

"Umm…there is some very important business I must attend to in my room! I…need…to…go!" He said in between squirms. Finally, she let go, and he ran like the rodent he was. She giggled and ran after him, yelling, "Playing hard-to-get, huh?"

As their footsteps grew fainter and fainter, the feline finally succumbed into a huge laughing fit, with her rolling on the ground and holding her stomach as she laughed so hard it made her eyes tear up. Shadow couldn't help but smirk, wishing they had a video camera. Or, maybe…

"You know…" He said to the amused Shadowpaw rolling from wall to wall, "If we got the video to this, it would be _ultimate_ blackmail. If we can find a way into his camera room…"

**Heh, doesn't that make you laugh? Now Kussia has a lot more to worry about than just Shadowpaw's wrath…now he has to worry about something that's the complete opposite! XP I think it's hilarious, personally. So…**

…**Err…**

**Bye!**


	11. Caught the Flu

Chapter 11

Caught the Flu

_Author/Cast Commentaries_

DL: Okay, another disclaimer! (pulls Shadow up) Here ya go!

Shadow: What? Why me?

DL: Because Shadowpaw's sick. Didn't you read the chapter?

Shadow: No, considering you just put it up…

DL: Yea, but...it says 'Caught the Flu'! (points at chapter title)

Shadow: Yeah, but it doesn't say who.

DL: Oh, yeah…well, do the disclaimer and I'll explain!

Shadow: (sighs) Fine… DL does not own me, Sonic and the others, nor Sonic Team's other…unique…things. She owns her characters, (her friends own theirs) and her and her friends own the plotline (sorta).

DL: Of course, now I'm working more independently. But, for those who know what I'm talking about, it's almost time for 'hate'!

Shadow: (question mark appears over head) '?'

DL: I said 'for those that know what I'm talking about'!

Shadow: Whatever, can you just put up the chapter already?

DL: YES! Fine! Here it is!

"_ACHOOO!!!_"

Shadowpaw lay in her bed, a thermometer in her mouth, a box of tissues beside her on her right, and a huge pile of used ones on the ground. The pile was about a foot taller than the top of the bed.

She was sick. And she hated every minute of it.

So far, her and Shadow's search had proved unsuccessful; no computer room, no blackmail. Simple math problem. Zero equals zero. She had even snuck out and climbed up the wall to look into windows, trying to find _something_ that could lead to something. And did I mention it was in the pouring rain? _And_ she had been outside for hours?

Yeah. And that was what resulted in this.

After she sneezed again, Cream came in and took the thermometer out of her mouth. She shook her head. "Ms. Shadowpaw, you have a fever. You're burning up!"

Shadowpaw was about to say a sharp retort, but she sneezed again and wiped her nose with another tissue. She threw it in the pile and ended up mumbling, "And this time I didn't put it on a light bulb…"

Feather was outside of the room. Shadowpaw didn't want him to get sick, although she wasn't sure he could, so she kept him out of her room. He sat beside the door and kept trying to sneak in. Shadow walked past the door, but he stopped and came back to look down at the little Chao sniveling. "Why are you outside?"

Feather sniffed and pointed at the door, and they both heard a loud_ 'achoo!' _They also heard something clatter to the ground and Cream saying, "You scared me, Ms. Shadowpaw! I dropped the thermometer!"

Shadow peeked in through the keyhole and watched as Shadowpaw grumbled to herself and blew her nose. She threw the tissue onto the ground and sighed. "I hate being sick…it makes me feel…powerless."

Cream smiled at her. "Its okay, Ms. Shadowpaw! I've gotten sick many times, too!"

Shadowpaw glared at her as she sniffed. "And _that's _supposed to help me _how?_" Cream giggled and bent down to look in her little bag. "You're funny, Ms. Shadowpaw!" Shadowpaw growled, agitated. "Stop it. I'm Shadowpaw, and we're not in the Middle Ages. Stop being all…nice and manner-freaky and everything…"

Cream took out an icepack from the bag and put it on her head. "There! That should help your fever go down!"

Shadowpaw crossed her arms and grunted. Cream giggled again and went back to looking in her bag. She took out a little Chao doll and handed it to Shadowpaw. "Here's a friend to keep you company!"

Shadowpaw looked at the doll. "Umm…gee, uhh…thanks."

Cream nodded, but something seemed to come to her mind. She looked at her and asked, "Where's Feather?"

Shadowpaw motioned towards the door. "He's sitting out there. I won't allow him in, in case he gets sick."

Cream smiled. "Well, that's really nice!"

Shadowpaw just scoffed.

"But who's going to take care of him?" Cream questioned her. "I'm going to the store with Tails to get some things on his list."

Shadowpaw shrugged. "I have no clue. Who wants to take care of a little rascal like him?" She smirked to herself. "Little stinker, him…" Feather from the other side of the door stuck his tongue out and made a rude noise towards her, and Shadowpaw's smirk got even bigger. "Yep, just like me; always getting into trouble."

Cream frowned. "But who _will _take care of Feather? He can't be by himself! He'll get lonely…"

"I don't know! Does it look like – _achoo! _– like I know someone who will look after him?"

Cream shook her head, and Shadowpaw sighed. "Well, ask everyone here before you go; I can't exactly walk around in this state, although in any other case I would."

Cream nodded, and Shadow moved out of the way of the door as Cream walked out. She didn't see him, however, and continued on past him down the hall. The door closed behind her before Feather could squeeze in, and he sniffed again and cried out, "Muhva!"

Shadowpaw answered, "You can't come in, Feather! You might get a cold! Cold _bad!_"

Feather just sat down and kept sniffing. Shadow found the spectacle rather odd, and then he decided he was going to…keep Shadowpaw company. (Yeah, sure, he's pulling a 'DL' move there!) He pushed the Chao away (gently) with his foot so he could open the door without him getting in. He poked his head in to see Shadowpaw's back facing towards the door, mumbling something dark about crazy rabbits and rabbit traps or something of the like. She was oblivious as he slipped in unnoticed, closing the door in the poor neglected Chao's face before he could sneak in with him.

Shadow smirked at her back. _Oh, what fun it would be to scare her like this…will she jump to the ceiling, or just fall out of bed?_ His eyes sparkled mischievously, and he tiptoed quietly over to her bed. He was right behind her, so close he could see her body rise and fall gently as she took a deep breath and sighed. She muttered, "Colds suck…"

Just as he was going to say something…

"What are you doing?"

Both of them leapt up into the air, Shadow whirling around to face Sly as the feline behind him (as he had predicted) fell off of the bed. She rubbed her tail gingerly as she glared at the red fox, asking, "What do _you _want?"

"Oh, nothing. Just…" He frowned at the pile of tissues beside the bed. "Are you sick?"

The two both rolled their eyes as she answered him, "_No, _I just – _achoo!_ – wad up tissues into balls and throw them for _fun._"

"Don't bite my head off." He continued to frown at her, but then he brightened up and stuck his hand into one of his gloves. "Hold on, I think I have _just _the thing…" He ignored their stares as he searched for whatever it was, before he gave a small 'aha' as he took a bottle out of the glove. He shook it slightly, grinning at the corresponding rattle of pills, and handed it over to Shadowpaw as he told them both, "It's super effective, but makes you a tad drowsy. Don't overdose!" He gave her a smile before he turned around and walked away, leaving Shadowpaw blinking in confusion as the hedgehog glared at his back. _Damn him, ruining my chance…_

Then, before either of them could say anything, Feather flew in via the left open door and tried to tackle her, yelling, "Muhva!" Before he could get to her, however, she quickly stuck her foot out and held him back with it, and as he desperately tried to get around it she told him, "_No, _Feather! Agh, damn Sly for letting him in!" She motioned towards Shadow. "Help!"

He had half a mind not to, but the glare she sent after a moment of him not moving made him change his mind. He picked up the Chao, and as Feather glared at him and stuck his tongue out, Shadowpaw suddenly brightened up and said, "Hey, _wait!_ I have the most_ wonderful_ idea!"

"Uh-oh…" Shadow muttered, immediately apprehensive.

"Hey, _Shadow, _you _do _know you're my best friend,_ right?_" She smiled oh-so-sweetly and said in a sickeningly sweeter tone of voice, "And _best friends _do _favors _for each other!"

"…Yeah, but –"

"_Great!_" She gave him a quick hug, secretly using that moment to turn him to face the door. After she let go, leaving him standing there in shock, she gave him a rather rough shove towards the open door and said really fast, "So-that-means-you-can-watch-after-Feather-right?" As he stumbled out the door, she continued, "Thanks-so-much-I-love-you-to-pieces-_bye!_"

For some reason, the door slammed shut behind him (magically!), leaving him outside of her room with her Chao. He looked back at the closed door, seeing if his glare could open it back up again, but it didn't budge, and he gave a big sigh and looked down at Feather at his feet. The little guy was sucking on his hand like a baby would its thumb and was looking up at him innocently. How could a little guy like him be so much like his 'mother'?

Suddenly, Shadow had an immense pain in his leg, and it took him a moment to blink and realize that that 'little guy' was now trying to take a hunk out of his knee with his teeth.

_Oh, yeah. __**That's**__ how._ After he snatched the Chao off of him, he added to himself, _not that she's bitten me. But she might as well. It would make it easier for me to kick her. _Glaring at the Chao now in his hands, he grumbled, "Now, what to do with you…"

Suddenly, the little guy grew a smile that was surely something spawned from a demon that lived in Hell. _Uh-oh…_

_Later…_

Cream walked into Shadowpaw's room only to see the feline sitting up in her bed with a strange smirk on her face. She had a sketchbook in her hands, and she was drawing furiously, not seeming to notice the young rabbit that just entered her room. It was only when Cream gave a small '_achoo!_' that her ear flicked slightly before she looked up to look at her. She teased, "Don't be getting sick on me now!"

Cream giggled and hugged her unexpectedly, causing Shadowpaw to falter in her drawing, before the rabbit suddenly took the book up and asked, "Whatchya drawing, Ms. Shadowpaw?"

"Gimme _that!_" Shadowpaw quickly took it from her, careful not to bend anything, and as she examined her picture she let Cream look over her shoulder to stare at the paper she had been working on. She had felt kinda bad for leaving Feather with Shadow, and she decided to draw a picture for the Chao (_ha!_ I bet you thought I was talking about Shadow!); it was a picture of him with his trademark toothy-grin and an apple in one hand, like the first night she had him. She gave a short smile, satisfied with the picture, before looking at Cream and asking out of curiosity, "Where's Feather?" Of course. She wouldn't ask about _Shadow._

"Well…" Cream looked a little uncomfortable. Immediately, Shadowpaw narrowed her eyes, but the rabbit quickly said, "I-It's not anything super _bad!_ It's just…well…"

_Crash!_

"Well, _what?_" She seemed to ignore the crash from downstairs.

"Do you think that…Shadow will be okay?"

_Meanwhile, downstairs…_

"Holy frickin' _shit!_"

Shadow fell down the stairs for the _fourteenth time_ that _hour_ as Feather giggled from above. As he hit the bottom, he quickly got up and ran up the stairs, satisfied to hear the little whelp yelp (I rhymed!) in terror and begin to flee. Getting tired of chasing him, he revved up his jets, hoping that he wouldn't have to do any sharp –

_Wham!_

…turns…

_In Shadowpaw's room…_

"Oh, yeah, he'll be perfectly fine." Shadowpaw smiled as innocently as possible, trying to hide the devil horns that threatened to pop out of her head. "Don't you worry about a thing!"

_That evening…_

Shadow wearily knocked on Shadowpaw's door. He grimaced as he noticed how weak it sounded. But he was so damn _tired._ That Chao had given him a run for his money the _entire day_; first falling down stairs, and _then _eggs in his fur, and _then_ he had broken his 'Shadow the Hedgehog' game. I mean, _sure,_ the other stuff all sucked…but _breaking his game…_now, _that _just went _too far!_

_Now I'm gonna have to play Sonic Heroes… _He groaned in frustration, but silenced when he felt the bundle in his arms move a little. He looked down at Feather fast asleep, barely hearing a mumbling of 'dada' in his sleep.

Once the little tyke had gotten tuckered out, it was easy to round him up and give him a scolding he wasn't listening to. All he did that showed he even recognized Shadow's presence was his constant taunts of 'stoopid' and annoying calls of 'dada'. Still, he did look…well…like Cheese when he was sleeping. And Cheese was cute and innocent. No, he wouldn't go as far as to say that _Feather_ was innocent, let alone cute. I mean, he was _Shadowpaw's Chao._ No need to compliment _her_, after all. (DL: 'Spitting image of his mum…') _She's the one that frickin' left me with this little shit…_

Finally, the door was answered by a half-asleep Shadowpaw, who had her eyelids halfway over her eyes as she gave a big cat yawn. Her hand raised to cover it, she spoke around it, "Whadya want?"

He held out the Chao to her, grunting, "Chao." He wanted to get rid of this burden as soon as possible.

She stood there for a while, staring and blinking owlishly, as he waited expectantly for her to take Feather away from him. When she did not comply, however, he waved his hands holding the Chao a little to catch her attention. The feline, however, seemed to have slipped off to some strange state of sleepwalking, for she just stood there with a dazed look on her face. Wanting to be relieved of his duty_ now_, he pushed Feather towards her, his fingers slightly grazing her overcoat (yes, she's _still wearing it_).

Startled out of her stupor, she raised her hands in alarm only to find that they grabbed his hands in retaliation which held the sleeping Chao. She froze, now wide awake, as the warmth from his gloves shocked her into silent staring. Looking first at the hands which she grasped, her amber eyes trailed up the strong, obsidian-furred arms, past the fluffy white chest, and up at the surprised look on the hedgehog's face. Not knowing what to say, she remained quiet as the Chao sat forgotten in their hands.

Puzzled by her behavior, Shadow was reminded of Feather when said Chao shifted in their grips, as if uncomfortable by their uneven pressure. That seemed to break the 'spell', for Shadowpaw quickly pulled her hands away with the Chao in hers now, turning her back to him as if to hide her face. Wait, she _was _hiding her face…what was she…?

Then, it seemed they had, indeed, awakened Feather, for he gurgled, "Muhva!" He gave her the best hug he could, what with his short arms, and she patted him on the head stiffly and muttered, "Yeah, yeah, go back to sleep…" Her mind seemed to be on something else entirely. After Feather blinked innocently (he didn't fool Shadow, however), he looked past his 'muhva' to see the hedgehog standing there quietly. He gurgled and reached his arms out towards him, saying rather loudly, "Dada!"

"Wha?" Shadowpaw turned her head with the ghost of red staining her cheeks to stare at Shadow, whom her Chao was pointing to. She blinked. "Da…da?"

Feather nodded. "Dada!" He flew out of her grasp and up to Shadow, hugging his leg tightly and repeating, "Dada!" The little guy seemed oblivious to the tension he had created in the hallway. Shadow stared down at the Chao attached to his leg, wondering why he suddenly seemed to be calling him 'daddy', and _why _him. It could have been _anyone_, but _no_, it had to be _him. And, if I'm right, parents are people you 'love'. And yet, he disobeys every single thing I tell him to do. Why is he calling someone he hates 'daddy'?_

Shadowpaw stared at the two before her with a strange feeling giving her goosebumps. _Why is Feather calling him 'daddy'? _Feather seemed to be extremely happy, hugging Shadow's leg as the hedgehog stared at him regretfully. What did Shadow think of this? He didn't seem to be very happy with the Chao's newfound affection towards him (DL: Actually, his exact thoughts are _damn,_ but…) …in fact, he looked rather tired, and weary. What the _hell_ did Feather do _this _time?

Feeling a little guilty for giving him 'custody' of Feather temporarily, she bent down and grabbed the young Chao, removing him from Shadow's leg, and straightened up quickly to turn away. When she did, though, Feather gave a small whine and gurgled, "Dada, dada!" He waved his arms over her shoulder in an attempt to grab Shadow for another 'hug'. Both anthropomorphs were still, standing quietly as the thick and heavy silence that had fallen after the Chao's pleas nearly suffocated the two. Shadowpaw really had no clue what to do; she was going to go _mad _if she had to deal with Feather calling her 'muhva' while he called Shadow 'dada'. After all, the prospect of the two being together in any way, shape, or form was…was…unbe_lievable!_ But, being a little guy like him, he didn't know any better, and to scold him or do any other sort of negative actions towards him could cause him to get sad and start crying or decide to be a spoiled little brat. Besides, wasn't it good for little kids and such to have a fatherly…figure?

_Man, since when did taking care of Chao have so many complications?_

"Err…" She looked down at the Chao, not knowing what to do. "Uhh, Feather –"

"Dada!"

"Feather –"

"Dada!"

"Feather –"

"_Dada!_"

"_Feather…_"

"_Da – da!_"

"Fe -"

"Dada!"

She was starting to get a headache and was beginning to go over in her mind the possible things she could stuff in his mouth to make him shut up. (A sock would do nicely. Always has, always will. Classic…) But, she had to get him to stop without hurting him (damn!), and so she quickly made a difficult decision.

"Umm…say 'goodnight'…to…'dada'…Feather."

"Nightie-night!"

Ignoring the surprised look on Shadow's face, she quickly turned away and walked briskly inside her room. She closed the door enough so only a small crack was left, and she gave a big sigh and muttered, "I'm _never_ going to have kids, ever."

(DL: If only she knew...)

(Shadowpaw: Knew what?)

(DL: Nothing! (smiles innocently))

Then, her ears perked up as she heard something that sounded like chuckling…or was that snickering? She looked around, found no one there, and then looked outside. The hallway was empty, however, and so she was left to ponder who it could have been…

_Meanwhile, following Shadow…_

As he lay on the bed in his room right beside the feline's, he found himself still smirking at her comment to herself. He could still see her face after she had called him 'dada' for Feather's sake, and it was something he really wished he had taken a picture of. _I hope that little brat gives you hell! _

"We will soon be arriving at the corner of the streets 'Pay' and 'Back'…"

He gave another short laugh at that, not caring if anyone heard. So what; they heard the Ultimate Life Form, who was also one of the moodiest hedgehogs around, laugh.

_It was a handsome one. They should get over it._

**Ha, I couldn't help but put the last few sentences there! I mean, Shadow **_**is **_**arrogant as well as stubborn. Why not put it into this story? Besides, I KNOW you all think he's hot! (snickers) Not me, though; he's just frickin' cool. Besides… (sweatdrops) I don't think I've really ever heard him laugh, other than during the ending scene on the neutral path with the hero ending on Shadow's game. But…that wasn't a happy laugh; that was an evil chuckle – a cackle, even! (shivers) Creepy…**

**ANYWAYS, how will they all deal with Feather's random bouts of craziness? How will Shadow deal with Feather calling him 'dada'? How will **_**Shadowpaw**_** deal with it? And how much chaos will ensue in the **_**next **_**chapter?**

**You'll find out in the next 'spike-straightening' chapter (ooh, I just gave you a spoiler! Shame on me!) of 'Just Your Regular Daily Chaos'!**


	12. Bad, Bad Spike Day

Chapter 12

Bad, Bad Spike Day

Shadowpaw: What the hell does _that_ mean? 'Bad spike day'?

DL: Do _you_ have spikes?

Shadowpaw: No…

DL: Well, then you don't have to worry about it! (shoves sign into her hands) Now, do the disclaimer; you skipped out last chapter 'cause you were sick!

Shadowpaw: (grumbles) Fine… (holds up sign)

Sign: DL does not own anything in this story, other than her characters, the plotline, and the random craziness she throws in for the hell of it. Her friends' characters belong to her friends, and Sonic/Shadow/etc. belong to the Sonic Team.

DL: That pretty much clears up everything. Oh, and Shadowpaw?

Shadowpaw: Yes?

DL: Don't freak out when you see Shadow's spikes.

Shadowpaw: What?

DL: You'll see…you'll see… (whispers only to audience) I had a conversation with a friend of mine, the one I do the roleplaying with, about this subject, so this is a one-chapter thing _only_. Anything that happens here is specifically made for this chapter and its ideas, although I may make a few references to it in the future. (normal tone) Alright! On with the story!

The day was rather normal for the household: Knuckles fighting with Rouge; Kussia being chased by Periwinkle; Sly flirting with every woman in the house; Shadowpaw muttering darkly to herself; Feather playing with Cheese and causing havoc…

Wait…

Where were the hedgehogs?

_In Shadow's room…_

_Damn sunlight,_ he cursed the rising sun as it came in through the eastern window. Vaguely noting that Shadowpaw had this same problem, he sat up in his bed and yawned. _Another day, another period of torture._ He grimaced. _Wheeeeeee…_

He got up and made his way to the bathroom, stumbling slightly in his tired stupor. Cursing the floor and everything else as well, he entered the bathroom and glanced into the mirror. He took his toothbrush, applied the toothpaste, and proceeded to brush his teeth –

_Wait a minute…_

He spit out the mint-toothpaste and leaned in closer to examine his reflection. After a moment of staring, he muttered, "Oh, shit…"

_Meanwhile…_

Amy wandered the halls of the mansion, looking for her 'beloved Sonic'. "No, not here…" She sighed and pouted. "Where could he be?" She continued searching, hoping that she would find her blue hero soon, and then came upon…something.

"That necklace looks rather fitting on you," Sly commented a blushing Periwinkle, who was playing with the golden chain of her necklace. It had a lilac-colored pendant in the shape of a heart, probably a locket, and the letter '_P_' in cursive and engraved with diamonds.

The purple fox looked down in embarrassment and answered shyly, "Why, thank you. I got it from my grandmother. Look!" Yep, it was a locket; she opened it up to reveal the silver-like inside to be bare. "She said that, when I get married, I should put my husband's picture on one side and my kids on the other." She sighed dreamily. "I just havta keep waiting…"

Sly, being Sly, smiled with his usual charm and asked her, "I've been wondering; what would purple and red look like together?" Although he looked innocent enough, his eyes were twinkling mischievously as he watched her blush darken. She stuttered, "Umm…I really…" She looked like she wanted to run away screaming bloody murder, but instead she could only stand and look embarrassed in front of him.

Then, Sly caught sight of Amy, and he was in front of her in an instant with her hand in his. He said, "Oh, and who do we have here? A lovely maiden like a pink rose? Why, pink and red blend together _perfectly_ –"

"Uhh, I _really_ have to go," the pink hedgehog quickly cut him short and gave him a sweet smile before power-walking off, leaving the poor red fox to frown. He snapped his fingers and muttered, "Damn…" Shrugging, he walked off, looking for someone else to 'chat' with.

As Amy walked off, she decided to swing by Sonic's room and check for him there. _He might still be sleeping,_ she giggled to herself, smiling as she skipped down the hall happily. _He's such a lazy bum, sleeping in and eating all of those chili cheese dogs; it's amazing he beats up Eggman all the time!_ Sighing as dreamily as Periwinkle had, she approached her hero's door and gave it a short knock. She heard him grunt 'come in', and, suppressing another giggle, entered the room.

Sonic looked up at her and jumped slightly. "_Amy?!_ I mean," he scratched the back of his head nervously, "I wasn't really expecting _you_ to –"

"_Oh my God!_" Amy pointed at his head. "What happened to your _spikes?_"

"Heh…well, ya see…" He chuckled nervously and scratched his cheek with a finger. "We kinda…uhh…ran out of hair gel…"

_Up in Kussia's Camera Room…_

Whistling happily, the gray squirrel waited patiently for his coffeemaker to finish doing its job. _Today's a wonderful day!_ He smiled. "Shadow and Shadowpaw have forgotten about killing me, Periwinkle hasn't gotten to me yet, I've installed the new security system and updated my elevator, and, best of all, my coffeemaker's fixed!" He beamed. "Could this morning _possibly_ get any better?" When the machine was done, he poured himself a cup and went to sit down at his chair to check up on his new cameras.

He had given them all heat-vision, night-vision, EEVE abilities, identifying devices, a bigger screen, and invisibility from the others. Sure, Sly would probably find them, but the two had agreed to not touch each other's stuff; Sly would leave his cameras be, and Kussia would be sure to not mess with anything of his. Like those shoes of the fox's; he had seen them in action, and he was sure that they were something like Shadow's, with jet-like gear to help float over things that wouldn't be nice to land on (like quicksand, or spiky pit traps). Also, Sly showed him all of the secret compartments in his shoes for his stuff, as well as the things he could hide in his gloves. "He could freakin' hide the kitchen _sink_ in one of those things," he muttered to himself as he checked up on said fox. _Yep, still bothering the ladies of the household. When will he ever learn? _Shaking his head as he got slapped across the face by Rouge, he continued down the proverbial list of cameras.

Not seeing anything odd at first, he almost missed it when it came up on his screen. In fact, it took him a couple of seconds to fully register it in his brain, and he then had to wind back a few camera screens to look at it again. He blinked, and then looked again. Still there. "Is this one malfunctioning?" He frowned, blinking, and then shook his head. He had only just installed them last night (it's not like he has something better to do; he doesn't sleep much), so they couldn't have already messed up. Besides, they were all working when he first checked them hours after installing them.

"What the…" Kussia still couldn't believe it. He rubbed his eyes twice, and then looked at it. It hadn't changed. "Is that…" He leaned forward in his chair to look closely at the screen. Was that what he _thought _it was?

"Is that Shadow with his _spikes_ _**down?**_"

_Meanwhile, in Shadowpaw's room…_

Shadowpaw stretched her arms over her head and gave a big cat yawn, Feather at her feet. "I'm so tired…" She muttered to no one as she rubbed her eyes to try to get rid of the sleepiness there. She had stayed up last night after Shadow had woken her up, mostly because she was thinking, although Feather didn't exactly help. Her mind was mostly on her parting words to the hedgehog.

_Should I have done something different?_ She frowned and gave a small sigh, angry that she kept bringing it up in her mind. _I mean, it really was the only way to make Feather stop…but…_ With a slight blush creeping over her face, she grumbled, "It was rather uncomfortable saying it all the same…"

She sighed again and sat down on her bed. "I mean, sure, Feather's a little kid basically, and kids have _two_ parents, but…"

Then, she held her head and groaned. "Why the hell am I bothering? It's just a Chao! _Ugh!_"

Then, she heard grumbling, and, assuming it was Shadow, she stood up and walked over to her door. "Hey, Sha –" She stopped, with Feather hiding behind her leg.

(If she had been looking at her Chao, she would have noticed how he licked his hand and said 'hot!' and touched his rear, making a hissing noise)

"What?"

"What the _hell_ did you do to _your hair?_"

"They're spikes…" He grumbled, but she wasn't paying attention to his words. No, she was staring at his spikes; at least, she _thought _they were his spikes. They were _down._

_**Down.**_

(This is where Feather's actions come into play)

Instead of the awesome daredevil-look with the bent spikes sticking up and all, they were almost like Amy's hair except his natural colors. They were quite slick, as if he had tried to use water to keep it somewhat in place, but it didn't seem to have worked. They hung down in a fashion much like Knuckles' dreadlocks, and it looked really, _really _weird on him. Shadowpaw just stood there and stared, blinking as if she couldn't believe it.

Shadow, getting annoyed by her staring, yelled, "Oh, _come on! _It's just _spikes! _So what if they're down…" He looked at her still staring at him. "It's not the end of the world! Stop gawking at them!"

Shadowpaw's mouth closed with an audible click as she blinked and said, "Uhh, could you say that again? You lost me after 'come on'."

"ARGH!" He stomped down the hall and turned the corner, fuming irritably as he just happened to pass Sonic and Amy. The blue hedgehog looked up and said, "Oh, you, too? That's a relief! Now I know I'm not the only –"

"_Shut up,_" he growled and went down the stairs, leaving the other two hedgehogs blinking and confused. Then, Amy shrugged and turned to her hero with a smile. "Hey, can I play with your spikes?"

"Uhh…" Sonic blinked. "…Sure?"

"Yay!" Amy jumped up and put her hands on his head, making Sonic jump in surprise and yelp, "Hey! Easy with the spikes!"

Meanwhile, back down the hall, Shadowpaw finally got over the fact that Shadow didn't look like _Shadow _anymore and looked down at Feather. "What do you think, kiddo," she asked him, and she smiled when he looked up and exclaimed, "Phunny looking!" She laughed and nodded. "I agree with you, shorty. I agree with you." She ignored him sticking his tongue out at her as she walked back into her room, and she went back to the video game she was playing (coincidentally, 'Shadow the Hedgehog') with the image of Shadow still in her head.

_Hmmm…he seems rather pissed about it, too…_ She tilted her head to the side as she stared at screen. _I wonder if there's anything else he could do? _Her eyes wandered on the screen, and suddenly she made Shadow (in the game) screech to a halt and backtrack a bit. She stared at the poster on the wall of the decimated streets and snapped her fingers. "That's it!" Her face was bright and cheery at her ingenuity. "Oh, he's gonna owe me one!"

_Later…_

Shadow was sitting slumped in the kitchen with his arms crossed when suddenly the door burst open to reveal a winded Shadowpaw. She panted and pointed at him, saying, "Shadow! Oh, boy, I've got an idea! I've been looking all over for you!"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Looking all over…?"

"Yeah! I even went and asked that sneaky little rat," she grumbled under her breath, "and he told me to take a hike, and I said I was going to give him something to – but that's not the point!" She was talking so fast, it seemed she would explode. "I've got an idea for your hair problem!"

"They're _spikes_ –"

"Oh, whatever!" She rolled her eyes. "I've got a solution for your _spike _problem!"

"And what's that?"

She took it from behind her back, and immediately he raised his hand and said, "_No._"

"Aww, come on!" She waved the baseball cap in the air, looking at him with a small frown. "It's only for until you fix your hair!"

"_Spikes!_"

"Whatever. _I _say it's _hair._"

"So, what, _that _is hair?" He pointed at the long fur on her head that barely went past her shoulders and ended in choppy cuts. She stopped and thought for a moment, blinking, before she smiled and said, "Yeah!"

He groaned and held his head, and she tried to comfort him by adding, "Hey, it's black and red!" It didn't seem to make him feel better, and so she walked over and slapped it on his head. He hissed and yelled, "_Ouch!_" His hand over the cap, he glared up at her and told her, "I still won't like it."

"Oh, well," she shrugged, "at least it's better than before. Now you should go play baseball!"

"Ha, ha, _very _funny."

"No, seriously; I wanna play baseball."

"Well, then, _you _go ahead!" He crossed his arms and looked away at the wall. "I'm not going out in public like _this!_"

"Aww, come on! You're pouting like a three-year-old!" He just grunted at her, and she sighed and pleaded, "Come on, _please? _Do it for _me?_"

He raised an eyebrow and dared to glance at her. "For _you?_"

"Yeah!" She got big anime-style eyes and a quivering lip. "Pwease?" She looked like a kitten begging for food. He continued to stare and blink at her, not really seeing what the big deal about baseball was with her. Finally, after the biggest silence that he has _ever _had with her (cuz she usually hates the silent moments), he sighed and caved in with a nod. She cheered 'yay!' and gave him a quick hug, before grabbing his arm and dragging him out of the room.

_Meanwhile…_

Kussia was now on the floor, laughing his poor fluffy squirrelly-tail off at the scene. He wheezed in between laughs, "_Shadowpaw…begged…__**Shadow**__…to play…__**baseball?**_" He laughed even harder. "_And she even…__**hugged him?!**_" Now clutching his stomach, he rolled around on the floor of his computer room, so full of mirth that Sly could hear him.

The red fox looked up at the ceiling where the bangs of Kussia rolling into walls and stuff came from. He shook his head. "He seems to be having fun up there…"

_Later…_

After a lot more begging, Shadowpaw managed to get most of the group out with her and Shadow, and they walked to the baseball field Kussia _happened _to have (just cuz he's so damn rich!) chatting with a bit of excitement. This was really the first big event the whole house had together, excluding the party the day they came in. But, Shadow and Shadowpaw didn't like to talk about that, avoiding the subject entirely.

As they got up to the bases, Shadow grumbled and pulled the cap down further to cover his eyes, to which Shadowpaw laughed and told him, "Don't be so grumpy! It's a game! Hey!" She pushed him up to the pitching mound in the middle. "You be the pitcher!" He turned to glare at her only to find her already at the bat, holding an aluminum bat and testing its weight by tapping the ground lightly. He shook his head and looked down at his feet to center himself on the mound, before looking up to see who was on what team. With himself were Sonic (_Damn…_), Tails, Knuckles, and Sly, while Shadowpaw's team was made up of herself, Amy, Cream, Rouge, and Periwinkle. Kussia was just going to watch. They only made up two five-player teams, but they just shrugged and said 'to hell with it!' and manned their stations. Knuckles was on first, Tails on second, and Sonic on third, while Sly stood behind Shadow in case it flew over him.

With the cat at the bat (lol, rhyming!) first, Shadow narrowed his eyes at her and wound up the pitch. She stood steady, but when he threw it she swung just above it. Kussia, deciding to be annoying, called out, "Strike one!" She didn't seem unfazed, however, and she just shook her head a little and got ready again. She went right below the second pitch, though, and Shadow smirked at her and taunted, "What, afraid the ball might bite?"

She smirked back at him, but said nothing for a change, and so he just shrugged and wound up the pitch. He threw it like a rocket, and…

_Crack!_

Shadowpaw hit it dead-on, and she dropped the bat and ran for it as it soared up above their heads. Shadow looked up, but he wouldn't be able to catch it, and so he watched it and turned around to see Tails running backwards to try to get it. Unfortunately, he tripped on his tails, and he fell backwards and tumbled a bit before laying on his back with a dizzy look on his face. The ball fell neatly beside his head, almost clobbering the poor fox as he sat up and wobbled a little before he picked up the ball and threw it back. By the time it landed in Sonic's hands, however, Shadowpaw was already stepping onto home, and the girls cheered as she turned to smirk at him. She said confidently, "I just had to get my swing right, is all!" He just scowled at her, but she winked and got back into line, and he shook his head and concentrated on the next pitcher.

Eventually, by getting Cream, Periwinkle, and Amy out, they switched places. Shadowpaw slapped her forehead and grumbled, "Most of my teammates are _wimps…_" She grumbled as she got up to the pitching mound, since she wasn't much of a catcher as she was at throwing. Cream stood on first, Amy on second, Periwinkle on third, and Rouge in the field. First up was Knuckles, and she knew that if he hit the ball that it would pack a punch. She made a note to hope that it flew over her as she searched for some way to bypass him…

_Aha! _She grinned at the echidna standing in position, and she wound up for the pitch, but started slightly as if to throw it. He moved his bat a little and tried to correct it, but it was too late. She had caught him unawares, and Kussia yelled out, "Strike one!" She kept it up until he was out, and then Sonic got up to the plate. He had copied the idea she gave to Shadow and had his own cap, with the style being white and a light blue. She winced. _Crap…if he hits that ball, we might as well just stand here. There's no __**way **__we could…_ She trailed off as her gaze went around the field and her eyes landed on Amy. After a moment, a plan formed in her mind, and she smirked and winked at the pink hedgehog, who at first didn't get it but then realized what she meant. She smiled cheerfully, and Shadowpaw wound up for the pitch…

Amy cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "_Good luck, Sonic!_"

Sonic faltered in his swing, but he still bunted the ball a bit. After recovering, he quickly ran around the field, but when he got to Amy on second base he yelped when she tried to grab him, and he stumbled a bit and tripped over his own feet. Clumsily falling over, he was out before he even realized it. Shadowpaw grinned triumphantly as he pouted and walked back, and her grin got even bigger when Shadow walked up to the plate. _This'll be fun…_ Smirking still, she situated herself so that she had the best possible position. She raised her foot, pulled her hand back, and swung it as hard as she could…

_Crack!_

He hit the ball hard, and Shadowpaw watched as it flew up above her head. She cursed and ran backwards with her mitt up, trying to catch it, although she doubted it highly; she was never really good at –

"_Oomph!_

"_Oof!_"

Everyone stared at the two that had collided in the field. Shadow was being pinned to the ground as Shadowpaw faced the deep blue sky, her mitt above her head holding the baseball. She had her eyes closed, from both knowing that she wouldn't catch it and the collision, and she slowly opened her eyes to look at a cloud hovering over her. After a moment, she turned onto her side and tapped Shadow's shoulder with the ball. She whispered, "You're out."

_That evening…_

It ended up that they all played (or, in Kussia's case, watched) baseball until it was starting to get dark, and because Kussia said it 'wasn't safe' to play at night, they finally stopped without an outcome. They were pretty much tied, and the two who seemed to be really working for the game were Shadow and Shadowpaw. They were both trying really hard to beat the other, but the game ended in a draw, and so they left the field a bit reluctantly.

Shadow was going to walk into his room when a hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned to see the feline standing there, and her hand slid off to instead be held out in front of her. She was smiling at him. "Good game," she told him, knowing that she had real fun that day.

He looked at her for a moment, staring at her hand, before he nodded slowly and took her hand in a handshake. Before she let go of his hand, though, she inquired, "Shall we break the tie someday?"

He smirked and nodded. "Of course; I could _never _let you have a tie with _me_."

She rolled her eyes at him and grabbed the cap on his head to pull it down over his eyes, and he growled and fixed it only to see her door close behind her quickly. He glared at it for a moment, wanting her to come back so that he could kill her, but then after a moment of thinking it slid away and became a smile. Shaking his head at her door, he turned and walked into his room, shutting the door behind him as well.

Kussia stood not too far away, unnoticed by the two since her stood right at the corner. He grinned at the two closed doors next to each other and mumbled to himself, "I can't wait for things to heat up around here…" He put a finger on his chin. "Maybe I should _help _it heat up…"

_Commentaries_

DL: FINALLY! I FINISHED IT! (does happy dance)

Shadowpaw: (rolls eyes) Key word there being 'finally'.

DL: (stops dancing) Duh. That's why I said it. (continues to dance)

Shadow: (whines) why did I have to tie?

DL: Technically, you're _team _tied, not just _you. _Just… (thinks for a moment) just blame it on Sonic or something, like you always do.

Shadow: Damn blue nuisance…

Amy: DON'T SAY THAT ABOUT MY HERO! (whacks him with hammer)

Shadow: OWW!

DL: Err, maybe I should so a sneak preview before things get out of hand?

Kussia: Yeah, probably.

Shadow: THAT HURT!!!

Shadowpaw: (sweatdrops)

**WARNING: Sneak Preview UP AHEAD!!!**

Feather has been practicing on his speaking habits, but what happens when he suddenly gets an intelligence boost via fruit? And what will he start to say to his 'muhva' and 'dadda'? And when he changes, what chaos will ensue?

DL: Well, this isn't called 'Just Your Regular Daily Chaos' for nutin'! See ya next time!


	13. Feather Can Talk!

Chapter 13

Feather Can Talk?!

Shadowpaw: (looks up at title) Say what?

DL: (beams) oh, just wait until you see the chapter!

Shadow: (rolls eyes) oh, I do believe she is rather proud of this idea.

DL: Oh, shut up. ANYWAYS, didya guys like last chapter? (hears mixed shouts of 'yay's and 'boo's) Err…thanks…I think… (sweatdrops) well, not many people are reviewing this story when you compare the ratio of reviews per chapter (averaging the numbers of reviews, of course). I mean, 'Silent Tears' and 'Amber Eyes' has a better ratio! Couldya guys cut me a _little _slack?

Shadowpaw: Can I just cut you?

DL: No.

Shadowpaw: Aww… (pouts)

Kussia: Shall we get on with it?

DL: YES, Mr. Impatient! Here ya go!

It has been a while since last chapter…

Okay, it's really only been about a week and a half…but still! That's a while, isn't it?

Shadowpaw was just waking up and was surprised to feel something sitting on her stomach. Puzzled, and tired, she sat up slightly and looked into two shadowy Chao eyes staring at her. She blinked, and then yelped and jumped up, causing Feather to fly up, but his wings kept him from falling back down. Shadowpaw, on the other hand, had the misfortune of falling off of the bed and onto the floor. She rubbed her tail and cursed, before footsteps alerted her to look up and see Shadow standing at her door with an eyebrow raised. He asked her, "What the hell are you _doing_ in here?"

She rolled her eyes. "It wasn't me, it was –" She stopped when her eyes landed on her Chao. She was quiet for a moment, staring at him while he stared back, and then she leapt up and exclaimed, "_Feather!_"

The orb on his head had paled until it was completely white, while his hands and feet turned into claws that nearly rivaled her own. On top of his head, little cat ears twitched and turned to listen to the noises of the household, and even a feline tail draped down from its place on his butt as he hovered over her. He had on a goofy grin, but the way his eyes were slanted made him look as mischievous as always. He giggled at her, covering his mouth with his claws, and then flew over to sit on Shadow's shoulder. He hugged his head and shouted, "Dadda!"

Shadowpaw, her eyes glittering like stars, quickly grabbed the young Chao from his 'father's shoulder and spun him around in the air like a parent would a child. "Oh my God, Feather!" She smiled at him as he giggled and reached for her. "Look at you! You changed! Wow, you_changed!_" She laughed happily and gave the Chao a hug, ignoring the hedgehog still standing in the room.

Shadow blinked, looking at the strangely comforting scene, and wondered, _for some reason, this is extremely creepy, and yet…calming._ He watched as she spun him around once more, smiling a bit when she got too dizzy and fell over, with Feather floating above her and laughing at her klutziness. _She's almost like a mother taking care of her child…_ He shook his head and got the thought out of his mind when the feline got back up and gave Feather another hug.

Then, after a moment, she held him out at arms-length and said, "Crap, wait a moment, you_changed!_ That means I _missed it!_" She proceeded to groan and complain, "I wanted to _see _you change! Aww, man! I've never seen it happen before!" She pouted and sat on the bed with her arms crossed, and Feather hovered and gently sat on her shoulder. He blinked and said questioningly, "Muhva?"

After a moment, she looked at him and smiled a little. "Well, you sure haven't gotten any better at English!" He scowled at her and flew off of her shoulder as she started to laugh, and he alighted himself on Shadow's shoulder defiantly. He looked at the feline Chao as the feline herself held her stomach while she lay on the bed laughing so hard tears came to her eyes. Feather stuck out his tongue at Shadowpaw, and Shadow couldn't help but smirk. _He's pouting like a little kid!_ After a moment, his smirk grew bigger. _He reminds me of__**her!**_ He shook his head and chuckled a bit, to which Feather looked at him and tilted his head slightly. "Funny?" He said the word as if it was a question.

Shadow nodded at him. "Yes, you and your 'mother' are very funny." He didn't seem offended by that, and so Shadow gave him a little pat on the head before they watched Shadowpaw sit back up and wipe her eyes until they were free of tears. She sighed merrily and looked at the two, still smiling, before asking Feather, "Would you like to come back over here now?" The Chao responded by crossing his arms and looking away from her with an indignant 'hmph!', and she sighed and said, "Alright, whatever. You'll come back eventually." She then laid back down and put her hands behind her head to stare at the ceiling, and Shadow looked between her and her Chao for a while. Both were stubborn and wouldn't easily give up, and he suspected this would go on for a while. He then turned back to the feline and asked, "I'm guessing you won't mind if I 'Chaonap' him for a while, then?"

She shrugged and told him, "Knock yourself out."

He shrugged in response, with Feather nearly tumbling off of his shoulder, and turned away and walked out of the door. He looked at the Chao and asked him, "Well, what would you like to do first?"

He grinned at him and said enthusiastically, "Play, play! Play game!"

Shadow couldn't help but smirk at him. _Hopefully, this'll turn out better than __**last**__time…_ He then did a U-turn and walked into his room, closing the door behind him and praying that he wouldn't be regretting this later.

_Meanwhile, in Kussia's Computer Room…_

Kussia watched the screen as he took another gulp from his cup of coffee. Believe it or not, that single cup had kept him up all night. He frowned and thought about what he had just seen. _Hmm, it seems that Shadow is getting used to that Chao…_ He smirked at the thought of seeing the Chao change and Shadowpaw's little 'temper tantrum' about missing it, and he thought aloud, "I _could _give her the video…for a price, of course." He sighed contently and put down his mug on the table. "Ah, it's good to be me."

_Later…_

Cream skipped down the hallway as she hummed a tune, looking bright and sunny as usually as she looked at her Chao, Cheese. She told him, "Isn't today such a nice day?" He nodded at her in agreement, and she giggled and continued her skipping. Being totally unaware, she bumped into Tails and made him drop whatever he was holding. They both said 'ouch!' and rubbed their craniums, before seeing each other and jumping to their feet to apologize.

"I'm _sooooo_sorry, Tails!" Cream brushed the dust off of him and did a little bow. "I didn't see you there!"

He blushed a bit and gulped. "Th-that's okay, Cream! I should have been looking where I was going." He then picked up the item he had dropped, which now caught the rabbit's attention. She pointed at it and asked him, "What's that?"

"This?" Tails held it up to her so she could see. "This is something I've been working on lately; it's a special fruit that increases a Chao's stats a lot! All it has to do is eat one, and _poof! _He gets_really _smart!" He grinned triumphantly at the thought that he had made such a thing, but then he frowned and added, "But, I'm too afraid to test it out…" He sighed. "I don't want anything bad to happen to any of the baby Chao; if I give it to a younger Chao, and it fails, it may affect how it grows!"

Cream smiled and said, "That sounds cool, Tails! You must have worked really hard on it." As Cheese gave his own comments in gurgles and coos, she added, "Although I wouldn't give it to Cheese, because he hasn't changed yet! I wonder what he would look like?" She thought about it for a while, looking up at the ceiling as Tails did the same. They both let out a long 'hmmmm'.

"Hey," Tails suddenly spoke up, "doesn't Shadowpaw have a Chao, too?"

"Oh, yes!" She smiled and clapped her hands. "Feather is a _really _funny Chao! He says such funny things!" She giggled and pretended to be the Chao, "'Muhva, muhva!'" She giggled some more at the way it sounded, and Tails found himself giggling a bit as well. Then, he asked her, "Has it evolved yet?"

Cream put her hands behind her back and said, "I don't know, but maybe you should ask Ms. Shadowpaw!"

Tails chuckled a bit nervously and inquired, "Hasn't she told you _not _to call her that?"

She tilted her head and looked at him with a sweet yet somewhat mischievous smile, which scared him. "Yes, but I can't help it! Ooh," she clapped her hands together, "I know! _I'll _ask her about Feather!" She giggled and skipped away, telling him good-bye as she went off to do her duty, leaving him to blink in confusion and wonder how she had suddenly switched topics so fast. Then, he shook his head and muttered, "Girls are _weird…_" Shrugging to himself, he walked off to his room, planning to clone the fruit in case it _did_work.

_Meanwhile, in Shadowpaw's room…_

As she played Dance Dance Revolution Supernova on her television (yes! I LOVE Xepher on that thing! I'm trying to beat it on Difficult, but…it's difficult!), she wondered aloud in-between steps, "I wonder…what…Feather and…Shadow…are doing…" She finally finished her three songs (and got a B), and she pouted and grumbled about not getting the hang of it before she decided to check up on her Chao (and Shadow). After all, it had been about an hour since they had left, and although she was confident that in the end he would come back, she was a _little _bit worried.

_What if he started being Feather again?_ _What if they both got into trouble? And what if he started to choke on a fruit?!_ (Who, Shadow or Feather? XD)

Getting a bit worked up, she forced herself to take a deep breath and calm down, and she said aloud to herself, "I mean, it's not like he just took a random fruit from a stranger or anything…" She stopped. "Well, he _might _take it from a _strange_ person…like Kussia." She chuckled a bit at the thought, although that made her a bit more wary, and then proceeded to walk over to her door to go see her Chao. "I bet I'm worrying over nothing, and he's probably perfectly –"

_Bang!_

Her door slammed open, and she blinked as she stood right before Shadow holding Feather in his hands. He held the Chao out to her and said quickly, "Feather can _talk!_"

Shadowpaw sighed and rolled her eyes. "What was your first clue, Shadow? Seriously. You came all the way next-door to tell me _that?_"

"No, you don't understand!" He looked a bit shocked, as if he had stuck his finger in a power outlet. "He _talked._ He made _sense!_"

"Oh, I'm _so _sure this isn't a joke right now. Alright, Shadow, enough fooling around –"

"_No, really!_ I_mean _it! He just told me that the fruit he had was 'a tad bit sour'," he finished in a sort of British accent, and Shadowpaw stopped and stared at him for a while. Finally, she asked carefully, "What fruit?"

Shadow looked a bit uneasy after that, as if he felt that he was in for it. "Well, umm…" He cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Me and the Chao were sitting in my room playing a video game –"

"Which?"

"Erm…mine."

"I'm not even going to _begin _to tell you how _stupid _that is to play your game with a little _Chao, _so continue."

"Err…we were in there playing it when suddenly Tails walked in and asked if we had seen you. I went to say that you were in your room like always, but then he saw Feather and nearly exploded with questions, and so I told him that you had changed a little while ago, and then he got his little 'frowning-and-thinking-hard' face on," he started to ramble on now, not stopping to take a breath, "and he asked me if it was super recent or if he had done it a while ago, and I said I wasn't sure since I didn't see it myself, and then he asked if he was hungry, and then his stomach growled so I assumed he was, and Tails gave him the orange-ish/pink-ish fruit that had a little leaf on top of it and looked like a mango or something like that, and Feather took a huge bite of it and started to choke, and I told him to be more careful or he would one day kill himself, and then –"

He stopped, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath to finish quickly, "Feather told me, 'sorry, I just got surprised because it was sour'."

Shadowpaw stood there quietly, not responded more than to blink, and after a while, Shadow opened one eye to look at her cautiously. She didn't look like she was going to blow. She looked rather calm, actually. But, whenever she had that face on, it made him edgy, and so he carefully took a small step back and said at normal speed, "So, I guess I'll just leave him with you and be on my –"

Then she snapped.

"What the hell were you _thinking?!_" She waved her arms in the air frantically as if to show that his thoughts were wild and unnecessary. "You just took a fruit that _looked weird _and _gave _it to Feather?! I mean, it could have been _poisonous!_ He could have been_allergic!_ How _could _you –"

"Well, _sorry,_" Shadow took a step forward, determined to defend himself now that she had blown, "but I'm not exactly a _Chao expert;_ I don't_know _what type of fruits they eat, and so I assumed that since Tails offered it, it _must _be safe, since he's friends with_Cream, _and –"

"You know, to 'assume' makes an '_ass_' out of 'u' and 'me'!"

"Well, you _are_being an ass! I was just trying to –"

"Wow, Mum, Dad, you guys must _really _like each other!"

"I mean, he's _just_a _little kid!_ How can you just _do that –_"

"You guys are _always_fighting! Kussia was right after all!"

Shadowpaw was going to yell 'shut up, Kussia' and continue with her arguing before she stopped with her mouth hanging open. Shadow had stopped, too, and they both looked down at the Chao sitting there calmly as if everything was fine. He was grinning at them with his normal goofy face on, and he then opened his mouth and said with the slightest British accent, "Well, if you must know, that fruit _was _a tad bit sour." He crossed his arms and closed his eyes, nodding as if agreeing with himself. "I prefer spicy fruit _much _better. Hey!" He opened his eyes and looked at his 'Mum'. "Do you happen to have any Dark fruit laying around?"

The feline was stunned; she just opened and closed her mouth, not able to find the words that perfectly fit the situation. In the movies, the main character would usually find something witty to say, and they would all laugh and have a great big hug. Or, if it was a dramatic soap opera, one main character would say something that would make the other main character hug her and they would be all 'mushy-gooey-lovey-dovey'. In a cartoon, the main character would most likely either be like 'holy crap!' or just faint on the spot.

Shadowpaw did the latter.

Shadow stared with his mouth hanging wide open at her laying on the floor, and Feather looked up at him and asked, "Is Mum going be sane after this? She looks like she's seen a ghost!" He just shook his head, but then he blinked and looked at the Chao with a frown. _Is it just me, or does he sound like _me? The Chao sighed and shook his head as well. "Poor Mum," he mumbled, "always getting overemotional. She exaggerates things at times."

At this, Shadow had to agree. "A lot," he added, and he smirked a bit as Feather gave his normal childish giggle. _Well, at least he hasn't really_changed

_In Kussia's computer room…_

While the gray squirrel rolled around in laughter, holding his stomach with tears coming to his eyes, Sly once again strolled in and asked, "Now what? You've just been having lots of fun lately and –" He stopped when he saw the screen and changed his question. "Is that Shadow holding a Chao?"

Kussia could only nod in his laughter, and the fox shook his head before looking at the Chao. "Wow, and a Dark Chao, too," he mumbled, before he looked closer at the screen and asked if that was Shadowpaw's room. "And is that her on the floor?"

Finally, Kussia got up from the floor and dusted himself off before turning to the screen, that smirk still on his face. "Let's just say she got…shell-shocked."

_Later…_

Shadow sighed as he sat on Shadowpaw's bed next to her, waiting for her to wake up. It had been about an hour since she had fainted, and he had moved her from the floor to the bed in hopes of not enticing her wrath when she awoke. They had started to get bored, so him and Feather began to play a game of chess as they waited. Right now, Shadow grumbled as the Chao's bishop took out his other knight, and he grumbled, "How the bloody hell can a _Chao __**beat **__**me**_ at this?"

Then, they both heard a groan, and they looked over beside them just as Shadowpaw sat up slowly and rubbed her head with a grumbled 'ouch'. She blinked as her eyes opened, and she growled and asked, "What are you doing in my room? And on my _bed_ while I'm –" Then, she saw Feather, and her whole demeanor changed for the better. She gasped and tackled him into a fierce hug, and the pieces on the board all went flying as she gave a small squeal and said excitedly, "You _can_talk! I can't _believe _it!"

"Aww…I was winning." Feather pouted, but she just gave him a tighter hug, and Shadow crossed his arms and felt something that seemed like jealously start to swell up. _Little brat, always getting attention and hugs and crap…what's so great about _Chao_, anyways?_ Then, he shook his head and wondered why he was getting _jealous _of a_Chao_, but before he could answer himself he was suddenly overwhelmed in a bone-crushing hug by both of them as she laughed and said, "I swear, your stupidity is _smart _sometimes!"

He was about to argue and get angry before he realized what she was doing, and she seemed to as well because she quickly let go of him soon afterwards, and there was a huge awkward silence between them for a while as they looked at opposite walls. It kept stretching and stretching until it seemed to smack both of them in the face, and then they both started to fidget anxiously; Shadowpaw twiddled her thumbs while Shadow crossed his arms and tapped his fingers as if waiting for something. It was obvious neither of them would start to talk, and so the Chao in-between them found that he should start instead.

"So, umm," his voice made the other two look down at him, "can I have a Dark fruit now? I'm _hungry._"

Shadowpaw smiled at him and laughed at his stomach growling again, and she told him, "Yes, alright, it's in the box under my bed."

"_Aha!_ I _knew_it!" Feather leapt down and crawled under the bed, bumping his head once and hissing 'ouch!' as the feline shook her head, still grinning. Shadow looked up from where Feather's cat tail was sticking out to look at her, smiling at her Chao with a glow as if she was proud of him, and he wondered what she thought of him. Was she still the stubborn feline and thought of him as an idiot to the end? After all, that was what she always called him. _But…that hug just now…friends…_hug_…each other…right?_ A bit confused on the subject, he decided that he should research a bit on the it as he watched her pull Feather up by his tail. As she laughed and poked the Chao where his nose would be while he pouted, he thought that perhaps, one day, he would ask her about it himself.

Not right now, of course. Her smiling and pure happiness and everything was a bit freaky, since she was usually angry, and he didn't want to push his luck in case she suddenly got mad at him and went evil-psychotic-kitty on him or something. For now, he'd enjoy her bright attitude and try to _not _induce a taste of her wrath once more.

That plan lasted about…hmm, half an hour.

He _shouldn't _have asked about tuna cans all over the room. Questions _always_ leaded to conflicts.

_Later that evening…_

Shadow sat up as the door creaked open, and he blinked at the Chao that floated in the doorway nervously. After a moment, the hedgehog asked him, "What are you doing in here?" Normally he slept with his 'Mum', so this was strange to see him up this late at night and flying around.

"Umm…" Now he_really _looked like Shadowpaw did, with the way he looked down at the ground and 'shuffled' his feet in the air, and he asked with his arms behind his back, "Can I sleep with you for a bit, Dad?" When all he received was a questioning stare, he elaborated, "I can't close my eyes if Mum's always snoring like she does." Shadow immediately understood and nodded as a sign that he could stay. As the newly changed Chao closed the door behind him, the hedgehog wondered about how he wasn't too hesitant to accept the fact that he was being called 'Dad'. After all, if it comforted the Chao and didn't hurt anyone, no harm, no foul, right? _As long as it keeps him happy and not annoying me to death…_

"Hey, Dad?"

He looked up at him and blinked, a bit surprised by his speaking up all of a sudden. "…Er, yes?"

Feather floated over and alighted on his bed, sitting with a thoughtful expression on his face. "Mum told me something that doesn't make sense to me." He still talked a bit strange, changing his 'accents' from a 'British' talk to slightly 'New York' like speech in one sentence, and he looked up at his 'Dad' and asked him, "Could ya help me make some from it?"

"Umm…" He shrugged. "Sure. What exactly did she say?"

"Well…"

_Flashback_

"_Hey, Feather," she called from across the room as he tried (once again) to play a video game, and he just turned it off (since he was losing; he's a sore loser) and floated over to see her with a book in her hands. He asked curiously, "What's that, Mum?"_

_She smiled at him and gave him a quick hug and a noogie before she decided to answer him. "This is a book of poems I found in one of the studies," she told him, "and I had to pick it up because it was one of my favorites." She held it up so that he could see the velvety casing and the silver letters 'Whispers on the Wind'. He stared at it and nodded, thinking about it. After a moment, she asked, "Can you read? I mean, you can suddenly _talk_, so…"_

_Feather held out his hands, and Shadowpaw carefully gave him the book and watched as he opened it and flipped a few pages. He squinted at the words there, concentrating hard, and he sighed and said, "Only a little bit. I understand _some _of the words, but…"_

"_Alright," she nodded, and after he gave it back to her she asked him, "Would you like to hear some of the poems in here?"_

_He shrugged. "Sure…? Why not?"_

_She nodded and, after a while of turning the pages, she gave a small hum and said to herself, "_Here_ it is…" She then cleared her throat and read it to him, with her voice taking up its own tune to the rhyme as he listened quietly, asking a few questions here and there about the words and letters, trying to understand it and read it as fluently and marvelously as she did. When she had done a few and was turning the pages once more, she made a small sound of recognition and told her Chao, "Now, _this _is one of my favorites." She pointed at the words and read, _

"I came here with empty pockets

And that's just how I am leaving

Did not ask nothing from you

Just your feeling

Possessions won't buy me

My heart won't be sold

Always thought love was more precious than gold._"_

_With that being only one paragraph of the poem, she said that it was her favorite part of it because it wasn't as negative as the rest of it. "The way I picture it," she explained to him, "this is supposed to be mostly a sad, depressing poem explaining how the poet is leaving someone for the better." Then, she put her fingers on the lines once more and repeated, "_Possessions won't buy me / My heart won't be sold / Always thought love was more precious than gold._" She looked towards Feather and smiled, nodding for some reason only she could make sense to. "The poet, who's name is something like 'Theresa Stall' or something-or-other, was probably with a guy who thought that only jewels and pretty things could keep her satisfied," she looked back to the book, a strange smile on her face, "but she's saying that the feelings of the heart, especially love, is worth more than anything else he could have given her."_

_End Flashback_

"So," Feather ended, "I didn't really get what Mum was talking about, but then she started to explain everything, and I kinda got the gist of it." Then, he tilted his head. "Something still doesn't add up, though."

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "And what's that? I thought you had the 'gist of it'."

"Well, I understood what the _poem _was saying," he shook his head and sighed, "but not what Mum was saying. I mean…" He was still trying to get the hang of talking, with it being so new to him. "It was kind of like…she thought of things like that before, you know? Like…it was kind of like she had been there before…or, maybe she experienced something that gave her familiarity with that kind of thing or…emotion…you know?" He sighed again. "I'm not even making sense to myself…maybe that fruit has a side effect of excessive talking? I mean, it _did _taste a little funny, like that one time I had a green apple which gave me –"

"Yeah, probably," Shadow interrupted, earning a scowl from the Chao before he flew over and sat on the pillow beside his head. After moving around a bit to get comfortable (and to annoy Shadow), Feather closed his eyes and was soon fast asleep, leaving the hedgehog in his ponderings for a while. The scene he had relayed to him made him wonder about the feline and if he really knew her.

_She just gets more interesting and confusing every day,_ he decided, and he came to the conclusion that a lack of sleep wouldn't help him solve the feline enigma and rolled onto his side, staring at the sleeping Chao for a moment before closing his eyes and succumbing to the darkness that was slumber.

_Commentaries:_

DL: So? Happy I updated quickly? I am!

Shadowpaw: Geez, _how_many fanfics have you been reading lately? I mean, you check all THREE of your e-mails everyday for updates!

DL: Oh, I'm just hooked on a new craze or two, is all.

Periwinkle: And what would those be? (And I wasn't even IN this chapter! Grrr…)

DL: Well, umm… (looks at Shadow and Amy, then a thought-bubble appears with the most recently read fanfic) …nothing special.

Shadowpaw: Err…right… (looks at thought-bubble) you know, I can see that since I'm your character – and say _what now?_ The story's by 'Lil moonprincess'? And why are Shadow and Amy ki –

DL: (glomps her) Well, that's all we have for now! Sorry, no spoilers this time, cuz it's mostly just going to be any random idea that comes to my head! See ya next time, and keep it real!

Shadow and Amy: ...? (look at each other confused)

Shadow: Ki…?

Amy: What's that? (both look at Shadowpaw)

Shadowpaw: Umm… (chuckles nervously) Never mind! (runs from questioning looks on their faces)

Shadow and Amy: ...???


	14. What Is Love?

Chapter 14  
What Is Love?

Shadowpaw: What? No explosive commentary this time?

DL: Nah, I'll let the readers look at the story and see your opinions at the bottom. So, see ya there! (skydives to bottom of page)

Shadowpaw: DL! You forgot your parachute!

(Thud!)

* * *

Shadow sighed as he glared at the wall separating him from Shadowpaw's room, which was vibrating from the max volume of her speakers belting out some song. _I wake up to __**this?**_ He was getting fed up with her and her music, and so he marched out of his room and slammed open the door to confront her.

"_What is __**love?**_" Shadowpaw was jumping up and down on her bed, pretending to play the keyboard in the air as she had her eyes closed and sang the song as loud as she could, barely sounding over the actual music. "_Baby, don't hurt me! Don't hurt me…no more…_"

Shadow's eye twitched, and he walked over to the speakers, ignoring the music blasting in his ears as he pressed the power button and turned it off. As soon as the tune disappeared, he noticed that his ears were ringing, and Shadowpaw's singing certainly didn't help them. He turned around as soon as she had stopped and crossed his arms, tapping his foot with a look that said 'you-are-in-heaps-of-trouble', but she just put her hands on her hips and balanced most of her weight on one foot to glare at him defiantly. "Hey! I was listening to that!"

"I'm surprised you can hear _anything,_" he grumbled, barely able to even hear himself. _I would have gone deaf long before._

"Now turn that back on!"

"No!" Shadow glared at her just as boldly as she did and complained, "You woke me up with that racket!"

"You were perfectly fine for the half hour I've been playing my music this loud!"

"Well, I'm not now!" He gave one final glare before turning and walking out the door, but her shout of 'wait' made him stop and sigh. He turned and asked, annoyed, "_What?_"

"Can you at least turn it back on?" Before he could refuse, she quickly added, "I'll lower it and keep it that way. Please?"

His eye twitched. _She's been saying that word more often now, and it's getting kind of creepy…_ And, the creepier part was, whenever she had said that at least once in an argument, she won. _Must be some female secret or something._ Knowing that denying her would be delaying the inevitable (she'd probably get off of her lazy butt and turn it on herself, anyways), he sighed and walked over to the stereo, ignoring her cheer of triumph as he turned it on and asked for the song number. _Mine can go straight back to the song after it's turned back on, _he mentally bragged after he set it and put the volume at a suitable level, and he turned and walked out the door just as the speakers once again asked, "_What is __**love?**_"

_What a question, _he mumbled silently, and he decided to finally do the research he had been meaning to do on the subject. The 'friendship' thing could wait until later; now with that blasted song stuck in his head, he had to find the answer to its question.

What _is_ love?

_Later…_

Periwinkle was sitting calmly in the living room when Shadow walked through it to get into the kitchen. She didn't really make anything of it, too busy watching one of her favorite soap operas to pay attention to it, but when she suddenly found that he had come back and was sitting on the sofa beside her she looked at him in surprise. She didn't think he'd be into this kinda thing.

"What's this called," he asked, eyes still glued to the television screen. Periwinkle mind pulled out a blank, and so she held up her trusty remote and clicked the 'guide' button. It showed in big red letters 'Loving You, Forever' with the recording signal lit beside it. Shadow stared at the letters for a moment, thinking hard about something, before he turned to her and asked if she had recorded every episode.

"Yes…" A little weirded out, she was even _more _confused when he asked to see the first season. Dumbstruck, she told him the location, and her stunned eyes watched as he reached up and grabbed the box containing all of her videos and walked off, still having that calm and collected mask on while a determination lit up his blood-red eyes. Her eyes followed him as he left, and one of the only thoughts she had made her giggle: _Cute butt!_

Still giggling a little, she was surprised that she was soon afterwards sharing the company of Sly, who walked in and, as soon as his eyes laid on her, sat down beside her on the couch. She smiled and thought to herself, _ooh, but his is cuter!_ She wanted to go over and pet his tail, but she didn't want to fuel his 'tendencies' and instead asked him, "What are you doing here?"

He put his arm oh-so-discreetly behind her on the back of the couch and said, "Well, it wouldn't be nice to watch TV all by yourself! Now," he turned towards the television, "what are you watching?"

She smiled at him while he wasn't looking, and she couldn't help but think of how funny and charming he was. _Oh, but I'm here for Kussia!_ Nodding mentally at her thoughts, she turned to the remote and asked him, "Do you like soap operas?"

Sly seemed to brighten up a bit. "Ooh, I _love _those! Now, don't tell me you're watching 'Loving You, Forever'!"

Periwinkle gasped in astonishment. "You love it, _too?_"

"Of course!" He flashed one of his perfect smiles at her, and she thought that _maybe_ it might have been cuter than Kussia's. "Can I watch it with you?"

"_Sure!_"

_Meanwhile, with Kussia…_

"Hmmmm…" He looked through his files on his laptop, wondering where he had put that video. "I'm pretty sure it was right here, though. Grrrr…_computer!_" He swiveled around in his chair as a hologram of his 'computer' came up. This time, it decided to appear in the form of a hot pink fox. It was always in female form, so he called it a 'she'.

He frowned and looked at her choice of fur, and she scoffed and said, "Geez, must you carbon-based life-forms _always_ wear clothing?" At his nod, she scoffed again, and a navy blue silk dress materialized onto her as she put her hands on her hips. He rolled his eyes and wondered why he had given her an attitude, and then he remembered he had designed her with a personality, and as he planned to fix it he asked her, "Do you know where the video of that Chao's transformation went? I was pretty sure I had it in that folder, but –"

She sighed and lifted a finger, and the mouse on his screen moved over to a folder on the screen and clicked it, and she went through a pattern of folders before the mouse dragged an item onto his desktop. He blinked and muttered an 'oh' before he shook his head and said, "Thanks, computer."

"Anytime. I was literally built to serve you." She gave a small bow before dematerializing, and he sat down and saved the video to a disc before taking it out and putting it into a case. He walked out of the door mumbling, "I'll take the elevator down so I'll get there quicker."

As soon as he got there, though, the doors opened and Cream stared at him from inside the small elevator. She smiled and waved, saying, "Well, _hello,_ Mr. Kussia! How are you today?" Her Chao sat on her shoulder and gurgled nonsense, and he stared at the two before asking her, "How in the _world_ did you get in here?"

She pointed up and whispered, "_He_ helped me!"

He sighed and started to say that God couldn't possibly help her get into an elevator (why would he, anyways?) before suddenly Sly's face was staring at him upside-down. He was hanging onto the ceiling of the elevator with his almighty shoes, and he grinned at Kussia and said, "Hello! I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but fall for that adorable face of hers."

The squirrel sighed and shook his head. "Whatever, but I need to get in. Move aside." He walked in, and after Sly swung down from the ceiling and landed on his feet, the elevator got more cramped. It was meant for one person, not for two grown men and a little girl with her Chao. He squeezed his arm past the fox and pressed the button of the floor that Shadowpaw and the others' rooms were, and he glared at Sly and said, "_Don't_ press the button."

"What button?" Sly grinned, and he put his hands behind him and backed up a bit. As he collided with the wall, and there was a small '_click!_', he faked a surprised gasp and asked mockingly, "Oh, you meant _that_ button?"

"Sly, I'm gonna kick your –"

_Whoosh!_

And so, they got there in just a few seconds when, if Sly _hadn't_ pushed the button, it would normally have taken a few, maybe ten minutes.

Poor, poor squirrelly-butt.

(Kussia: HEY! I heard that, DL!)

(DL: So? My story, my rules. (sticks tongue out))

_Meanwhile, downstairs…_

"Umm, Shadow?" Rouge looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "Are you…feeling okay?"

"I'm feeling perfectly fine," he told her, and then repeated, "Can you tell me what 'love' is?"

She frowned, feeling a bit uneasy. _Why's he asking _me_ that?_ He seemed to see her silent question in her stature, and so he explained, "You wear hearts all over your outfit, right? And hearts are part of 'love', right?"

"Well, _yeah,_ but –"

"Then what is 'love'?"

"Isn't that a song?" They both looked towards Knuckles walking in, and the uneasiness in Rouge's stomach skyrocketed to another level. The echidna looked between the two, the impatient look on Shadow's face and the nervousness on Rouge's, and then he asked, "So…what are you guys talking about?"

Before Rouge could tell him that it was nothing and that he should mind his own business anyways, the hedgehog next to him drawled calmly, "Oh, just looking for an answer for my question." She shot him a glare, but since he was looking at Knuckles he couldn't witness the full wrath of it, and she started to massage her temples. _Lord, help me…_

The echidna raised an eyebrow. "And that question is…?"

"What is love?"

"What, has Shadowpaw's music gotten itself stuck in your head, too?" The three now looked over to see Sonic walking in with a sour look on his face. At all of their inquiring glances, he sighed and said, "Amy likes that song, and _now_ both of them are running around in her room, doing karaoke and keeping me from taking a nap." He crossed his arms and pouted, and Cream giggled a little as she came in behind him. Then, she did the same and complained, "I'm sorry, but Amy and Ms. Shadowpaw are _really_ loud! I'm unable to talk to them over their music, so…"

"Cuz it's so freakin' _loud!_" Tails came in as well, making their group that much bigger. He had his arms crossed and a disapproving frown on his face. "I can't do _anything_ with them doing things _that loud!_ I was _trying_ to work on a new project…" He continued with his grumbling about something 'new and improved', but nobody really listened to him as they all thought about how annoying that racket was.

"_Are you in it for __**love?**_"

Everyone groaned at the new song, and Shadow told them, "That's _it_; _now _I'm going to kill her." He started to leave, but Cream grabbed his arm and said urgently, "No, please, don't hurt them!" When he frowned and looked saddened, she continued, "Maybe if we could talk to her, she would turn it down?"

_Hmm…I could always cut the power off to her room or unplug her stereo._ Finding the idea sane enough to possibly work, he nodded at the rabbit (much to everyone's surprise) and walked up the stairs to Shadowpaw's room. _It's time that I had my _own _little talk with that cat…_

_**Meanwhile, upstairs…**_

"Hey, Shadowpaw, let's sing something else!"

The feline grinned and nodded. "Yeah, something _loud_ and _obnoxious!_"

"Ooh! I've got _just _the song!" Amy went over and put in a CD, skipping some tracks on it before a familiar tune came on, and she turned around and sang, "Hey, hey, you, you, I don't like your girlfriend!"

Shadowpaw smirked and sang with her while shaking her finger, "No way, now way, I think you need a new one!"

"Hey, hey, you, you, I can be your girlfriend!" Amy giggled, seeming to have fun doing this with the feline. And, surprisingly, Shadowpaw was, too.

"Hey, hey, you, you, I know that you like me! No way, no way, no it's not a secret! Hey, hey, you, you, I wanna be your –" _Fik!_ Suddenly the stereo turned off, and they both looked at it in confusion before the sound of someone clearing their throat turned their attention to the door. Shadow stood there with his arms crossed and his foot tapping, the plug in his hand as he glared at the two girls. Amy looked down timidly with her hands behind her back, but Shadowpaw just crossed her arms and glared right back, growling, "What do _you_ want, _rat?_"

"You're both _too loud _and _obnoxious._ We can hear you on the _first floor._"

"Well, too bad. But that doesn't mean you can unplug my stereo!"

"Kussia told me I could, and the stereo's his."

She threw her hands up into the air and said, "Fine! Whatever! Ruin my fun!" The pink hedgehog, seeing that they were going to start fighting again, said a quick 'bye, Shadowpaw' before quickly departing, not wanting to get in the middle of it. Of course, no one wanted to get in-between them when they were fighting; someone could get hurt.

Not that no one got hurt _anyways,_ but…

"And what the hell were you guys singing?" Shadow made a face as if a bit confused and annoyed and stated, "I tried to listen, but all I heard was 'hey-hey, you-you' and then you guys _screamed _something to the heavens that I couldn't understand."

"Well, it's not _my_ fault that we are so into music." She turned her head away in a sort of snooty way just to piss him off, saying simply, "You have no taste in music, anyways."

He scoffed and crossed his arms as well, looking offended. "Really?"

"Yeah, really! What music _do _you listen to?"

"_Good_ music."

"Name an artist!"

"Linkin Park."

"Er, that's a band, but fine, I'll give you one point…give me another! Wait!" She held up a hand to stop him from saying anything, and she grinned and joked, "Let me guess – Ricky Martin!" She started to laugh, holding her stomach while the hedgehog stood there in confusion. "Or – or, better yet: sing some songs from Wild Wild West!" She laughed even harder, falling backwards onto her bed as she still clutched her stomach. "Oh my God, I can just _see_ you singing 'Bailamos'!"

"…_What?_"

"Nothing, nothing, never mind," she said in between her strangled gasps for air, until she finally calmed down and wiped the tears from her eyes. Shadow raised an eyebrow at her and said, "You find the strangest things funny, like me singing Spanish songs."

"_You_ find the strangest things funny, like dangling a rat from a pike over a river of crocodiles."

"As long as that rodent is Kussia."

She grinned and joked in some kind of fake-gangster accent, "Tru dat." They both smirked and snickered on that one, and they could have sworn they heard an insulted 'hey!' from nearby, but with close inspection and a moment of waiting they figured they were just imagining it and the _real_ reason Shadow came up there was brought up.

"Shadowpaw."

"What?" She looked up at him from where she was laying on the bed, frowning at the serious look on his face (well, he _always_ looks serious…). "What is it, Mr. Killjoy?"

He glared at her for a moment before he crossed his arms and leaned on the wall, closing his eyes. Shrugging and deciding it couldn't be _too _important, Shadowpaw went back to laying down and sighed as she put her hands behind her head, ready to take a nap…

"What is love?"

Shadowpaw fell off of the bed.

"Ackpffatr – crazy-hedgie-say-_what?_"

"What the hell is a 'hedgie'?"

"Hey, hey, one question at a time," she muttered, getting up off of the ground and dusting herself off as she looked at him from the corner of her eyes. Yep, he looked like he normally did, so he wasn't insane. "Okay, so _what_, pray tell, brought on this sudden curiosity of animal emotions?" (Heheh, you know, instead of 'human', it's 'animal', because they're…yeah…)

"Well, you got the damn song stuck in my head," he said matter-of-factly, crossing his arms and glaring at her, "so I want _you _to answer it."

She looked at him – perhaps nervously? – and said, "You could ask _Kussia…_"

"He'd laugh."

"And I wouldn't?"

"Have you yet?"

"Touché…" She bit her lip. "Sly?"

"No."

_Geez, a little hot under the collar there…_ "Uhhhhh, Periwinkle and/or Amy?"

"Shadowpaw," he gave her a stern look, "_you_ are the feline who woke me up with that music, _you_ are the one who played songs related to the subject all day, and _you_ are the one who seems to be less affected by it then anyone else."

Shadowpaw blinked.

"I want your opinion."

Her jaw dropped. "You…want _my_ opinion?"

"Yes, I –"

"_You…__**want**_. My. Opinion?"

"_Yes._"

"…_You –_"

"_Yes, dammit, get with the program!_" She snapped her mouth shut at his yelling, and then his clicked closed as well, as if he had surprised himself by doing that. Quite out-of-character for both of them to sit in silence, but, then again, it was OOC for Shadow to snap at her like that (well, without her yelling as well) and for Shadowpaw to be surprised by something so simple (well, simple in words, not meaning). They stood there awkwardly for a while when, suddenly, as if that was his cue, Feather popped his head out from under the bed and said (perfect timing, too), "_Awk-_ward!"

"Feather?" Shadowpaw put her hands on her hips much like a scolding mother would and asked crossly, "Have you been under there the entire time?"

"Yes!" She grimaced. _Great, he's British again._ He pointed under the bed and said aside, "There's a box of fruit down there, besides! Mm-mm, spicy!"

"Well, just – be quiet, okay?" He nodded and sat on the bed, chewing on a bite of a Dark fruit as he looked between the two. They were tense now, looking at the Chao a bit anxiously, before Shadowpaw looked back to the hedgehog expecting an answer and said, "Look, whether this is an actual sincere question or not, I don't think I can help you."

"Why?" He gave a pointed look towards Feather and countered, "You talked to _him_ about it."

"_Feather…_"

"What?" The Black Cat Chao put on an 'I'm-innocent' look that didn't fool Shadowpaw one bit before taking another bite from the fruit and talking with his mouth full, "He _asked!_"

"Ugh…" She slapped her forehead, muttering about Chao and hedgehogs and toasters, before looking at the Black Cat Chao again from between her fingers on her face and mumbling through them, "Feather, get _the_ book, _please._" He made a face at her, but she pointed sternly for him to go get it and he sighed and rolled his eyes before flying over to explore her dresser (which seemed to hold everything she owned) for whatever book she was talking about. Shadow looked on with an eyebrow slightly raised as she sighed and sat on her bed, looking down at the ground with a thoughtful look on her face that was regretful and nervous. He tilted his head in curiosity, wondering where those feelings were coming from and why, before the little Chao flew back over with a book in his hand, and she took it from him with a 'thank you' as he sat down beside her, a small bored look on his face. After a moment of flipping through the pages, she looked up to Shadow and blinked expectantly. When he just blinked back, she rolled her eyes and asked, "What, you're gonna stand all the way over there and listen?"

Shadow crossed his arms and scoffed, "What, you _need_ me over there or something? Is the bed too _cold?_"

She scowled at him and growled, "Do you really want my opinion, or are you just here to annoy me?"

The hedgehog rolled his eyes at her but walked over to sit beside her on the bed, and she gave an angry huff before flipping through the book some more, stopping again when she felt him leaning over to look at it as well, causing him to lean into her and look over her shoulder. She glared at him and asked harshly, "Could you _not_ get all on top of me when I'm trying to look? This is already nerve-racking as it is." He scoffed again and moved away a little, and she grumbled dark things under her breath as she went on with the seemingly endless flipping, annoying Shadow like a pesky mosquito until finally she gave a small 'aha!' and smoothed a page down before looking at the poem that she had shown Feather. She glanced at him and said, "I can assume Feather told you about looking at this, right?"

He nodded, and she went back to staring at it for a moment before taking her finger and underlining two lines with it, asking him, "See these lines?"

"I'm not _blind, _Shadowpaw."

"Oh, shut _up!_ Humor me." She glared at him for a while, waiting for him to show that he was ready to go on with his 'lesson', and he nodded slightly as a sign to continue, looking a bit peeved after doing so. She rolled her eyes but went back to looking at the poem, reading aloud the lines she had underlined, "_Did not ask nothing from you / Just your feeling._" She then glanced at him again, one eyebrow raised in curiosity, and she asked him, "Just curious, (DL: no duh!) but what do _you_ think it means?"

_Oh, great, a talk about __**feelings.**_ Rolling his eyes at her, he replied, "I don't _know_ – that's why I'm asking _you._"

"_Humor me._"

"Ugh…" He glared at the paper as if the answers would spring out to him and do the Macarena, but no such thing happened and he actually had to use his _brain._ (DL: (gasp) God forbid he should ever have to think about something! He is the 'Ultimate Life Form', after all!) After a moment of thinking, to which he cursed the feline for ever making him do such a thing over something so stupid, he shrugged and said lamely, "I don't know, maybe…she wanted him to feel her up?"

_Smack!_

A red handprint on his face, he held his cheek while trying to glare at the cat from between his fingers as she scolded him, "You have absolutely no tact whatsoever! God knows how you've ever saved the world!" She huffed angrily at him again, which was really starting to annoy him (_What, is it a new trend of hers?_), and he found the need to defend himself.

"Well, _sorry,_ but 'saving the world' and 'having relationships' aren't exactly related in terms of strategy!"

"Well, I'm pretty sure that even the _dumbest_ person on the face of this planet knows at least the _basics_ of not getting slapped." She pointed at his face in example, and he growled and spat at her, (which was strange, because that was what she normally did to him) "Well, (DL: Damn, too many 'well's…) Ms. Perfect, such as?"

"Oh, you want an example?" When he nodded and crossed his arms with an expectant look on his face, she looked up to the ceiling in deep thought and gave a long 'hmmmm' showing that she was considering many things. Just as he was going to say something along the lines of 'I'm _waiting_', she brightened up considerably and turned to him with a sly smirk on her face. "Watch this."

Wondering what she was going to do, his eyes widened in surprise and his mouth slightly opened in shock when she _batted her eyelashes at him_ and moaned, "Oh, it's freezing outside! And I don't have a coat! Brr!" She faked being cold by rubbing her arms quickly as if trying to warm them, but then after a moment she quickly stood up and turned to face the bed as if the 'damsel in distress' was still there and held out an imaginary coat. "Why, here you go, ma'am," she even lowered her voice a bit, although tried hard not to crack up, "I noticed that you were shivering and thought you might need this coat."

By now, Shadow was rolling his eyes, and Feather was covering his mouth to muffle his giggles as he watched his 'mum' sit back down on the bed and look flattered. "Why, _thank_ you," she told the pretend man handing her a coat and took said invisible article of clothing with a sweet smile, "such a _gentleman._" She stressed the last word and glared at the hedgehog beside her before her face broke into a grin and she laughed a bit at her own acting. As her laughter filled the entire room as well as Feather's, Shadow stared at her with his arms crossed and grumbled, "What the hell does _that_ have to do with a relationship? She – _you_ – got a coat!" He held up his hands, looking genuinely confused. "Is that some secret tradition of showing affection that no one told me about?"

"Oh, my _God!_" She gave him a (light) smack to the head and asked incredibly, "Don't you _get it?_ It's not _about_ the coat! It's about being polite!" With glares being exchanged, she added with a growl, "I guess that's something that _you_ will never understand!"

"Oh, yeah?"

"_Yeah!_"

"You wanna bet?" He gave her a look that showed he wasn't kidding, and she raised an eyebrow and told him, "Yeah, I'll bet on that. I bet that you can't be polite for an entire week to everyone in the house, _including me._"

He frowned and complained, "That's not fair! An entire _week?_ Around _you?_"

"It's your bet," she waved it off as unimportant and got up to put the book back, but after she had shut the drawer, Shadow had stood up and was glaring at her with his arms crossed, and after staring at him for a moment expectantly she put her hands on her hips defiantly and asked, "Yes? What do you want?"

"I'll only do it if _you_ do it."

"What?"

"You heard me," he smirked, feeling that now they were on even ground. With both of them in the bet, he could obviously win and get something out of it. Speaking of which, he pointed at her and said, "When I win, you have to wear something _girly,_ since I know that you hate anything of the like."

She narrowed her eyes at him, pointing back at him and growling, "Well, _when I win,_ _**you**_ have to…to…" Suddenly, an idea came to mind that sounded like pure evil, and she grinned mischievously and said simply, "Hang out with Sly for a day."

"_What?!_" He reacted worse to the suggestion than she did to his. "But – but you're making me spend a day with _that fox!_"

"Yeah," she crossed her arms and glared, "and _you're_ making me spend a day in a dress."

"I didn't say dress, but _alright_ then. Fine. Either I spend a day with Sly, or you wear a dress for a day." She gritted her teeth at his confident smirk, and she glared suspiciously when he held out his hand and asked tauntingly, "Deal?" There was this look in his eyes that she couldn't trust, but she wouldn't back down now; never had she turned down a bet in her life – from eating worms to smashing mailboxes to _this_ – and she wasn't about to start now. She slowly walked over to him, giving him a proud smirk, and took his hand in a firm and nearly crushing handshake.

"Deal."

* * *

DL: Wow, it went all the way from a song to a bet.

Kussia: Hmm…I wonder how this will end up?

DL: Heheh, believe me, either way, it'll be funny! (laughs manically)

Shadowpaw: That's never good… (gulp/sweatdrops)

Shadow: (looks nervous)

DL: So, I've finally updated this! Like me more now? I hope so… (sweatdrops) I had such a bad writer's block, but I broke through it because I knew I had to update soon!

Periwinkle: (rolls eyes) Oh, yeah, you should have seen her. She nearly started to cry, she was so frustrated with the damn thing. (laughs)

DL: (ignores) So, give me a heads-up telling me what you think about this chapter! (looks adorable) Please review? (cute-adorable-kitty-look)

Shadowpaw: (pushes over) Oh, that is _completely_ amateur. Watch a master at work. (does it perfectly)

DL: (grumbles) Show off.


	15. It Sucks to Be Me

Chapter 15  
It Sucks to Be Me

DL: Heheh, like the title? (is proud) I thought it up in _three seconds!_

Shadowpaw: (rolls eyes, sarcasm) Oh, yes, it is an awe-inspiring title that will motivate people to end world hunger and find a cure for cancer.

Shadow: (doing the same) Obviously.

Kussia: Yep.

DL: Hey! I thought you guys were supposed to be polite!

Shadowpaw and Shadow: But we were. We were complimenting you.

Kussia: And I didn't make a bet to be polite! And besides, you're not in the house!

DL: …True. (shrugs) Oh, well. Oh, and I am sorry, Shadow, but you _do_ have fans.

Shadow: …What?

DL: You'll see. Shadowpaw, will you do the honors, since I haven't done it in a while?

Shadowpaw: Sure. (holds up sign) Sonic and the rest belongs to Sonic Team, not DL – she is only borrowing them for her plot and her pleasure.

DL: Hey, that didn't sound half-bad! That's going to be my disclaimer for now on!

Shadowpaw: (grins) Hey, thanks! (waves off readers) Okay, now shoo! Read the story!

_In the kitchen next day…_

Kussia was humming to himself as he made some coffee in the kitchen downstairs (since Cream had broken the one in his computer room somehow while trying to make tea) when suddenly the door to the kitchen opened and Shadowpaw walked in, a happy smile on her face and a bounce in her step. Raising an eyebrow but not saying anything, the squirrel tried to ignore her (instead just wanting a calming morning) until she decided to start humming some song that irritably sounded like 'It's a Small World', and then he looked at her with a frown, wondering what was wrong with her as she went to get some milk from the fridge. After a moment of her moving things around in there, she gave a small 'aha!' and pulled out the carton and found Kussia staring at her as if she had just told him the sky was green and that pigs could fly. "What?"

"…You're humming."

"Is it bothering you?" She looked like she sincerely cared, making Kussia blink in shock, and the feline _apologized_ and told him, "I'll stop, then." She then turned around, chugged a bit of the milk down, put it back in the fridge as she wiped her mouth, and then waved good-bye as she walked out the door, leaving the poor squirrel to stand there and blink before grinning at a thought.

"And so starts Day One…"

_Meanwhile, upstairs…_

Sly, being a friend of Kussia, had (minimal) access to the squirrel's video cameras – meaning that, whenever Kussia was watching something, and Sly was there, the fox could watch it with him. Seeing as how yesterday both of them (and Cream – she's a regular there now) watched Shadowpaw and Shadow make that bet, the fox knew perfectly well the stakes and the rules of the game.

He went looking for Shadow.

"_Hey,_ Shadow," he said when he found him, and his eyes spied the hedgehog's fists clenching slightly before he turned around to look at the fox with reluctance. However, since he was unable to tell him to 'buzz off', he instead waved weakly and mumbled, "Sly…"

"How are you, buddy?" The red fox put an arm on Shadow's shoulder, and it was all the hedgehog could do to not punch him square in the jaw. Still, the bet was a hovering presence in his mind like a buzzard waiting for the exhausted animal to drop dead, and so he tried to be civilized by answering, "Fine, I guess. Been a bit…exasperated lately."

"Oh, really?" He looked at him with genuine concern. "Why's that? I'm pretty sure I know a thing or two that could relieve any stress that's been building up."

"No," Shadow looked away and made a face when Sly couldn't see, "I don't need anything."

"What? After a good massage and a hot cup of brewed tea, you'd be good as new!" Sly gave him a few manly pats on the back, but Shadow just grunted and walked off, and the fox grinned and knew that if the hedgehog had pockets his hands would be shoved into them like a grumpy teenager. "Ah," he sighed wistfully, "what it was like to be as young as him."

After a moment, though, he frowned, and he muttered, "Damn, I'm getting too old. I need to go have some fun." His mouth went up into a grin as he decided that he would go see Periwinkle, and he wondered about bringing Kussia along to torture him before shaking his head and mumbling to himself, "Nah, cuz then she'll be hanging all over him and be distracted." Smirking slyly, he walked off with his hands behind his head and whistling a merry tune, wondering how the rest of the week would play out.

Shadow, meanwhile, walked into the living room just as Shadowpaw was getting up from the couch to walk out, and they stared at each other for a moment determinedly before both put pleasant smiles on their faces, confusing the hell out of Knuckles and Rouge as they sat on the couch and blinked. The echidna had a frown on his face, and the jewel hunter had her arms crossed as she watched them curiously. _What are they doing…?_

"Why, _hello_, Shadowpaw!" The hedgehog nodded his head towards her, still grinning like mad. "Nice morning, isn't it?"

"Yes, of course!" Shadowpaw, much to their 'audience's horrified amusement, did a small curtsy with the same crazed smile, and she told him, "I'll be off now. Good day."

"Good day to you, too." When she walked up to get past him, he moved aside and held the door open, and Knuckles and Rouge watched with their jaws nearly touching the floor as Shadowpaw smiled at him and thanked him before leaving. Shadow finally smirked after she left, thinking, _this is easy,_ and looked at the two on the couch before asking them, "Yes? May I help you?"

They shook their heads, and he said 'alright, then' and walked over to sit on the other couch, taking the remote into his hand and pointed it at the television, but stopped before he flipped the channels and asked them, "Are you guys watching anything important?"

"Nope."

He then pressed through most of channels until he came upon the news, and as he was interested in the report about a fire caused by an explosion in a town nearby (or at least, the closest town to Kussia's mansion – he lived pretty far away from the rest of civilization) Rouge glanced over to Knuckles and 'muttered' loudly, "Why can't Knucklehead be polite like him?"

"Because I ain't no freakin' sissy," the echidna growled, and then snapped, "and I'm not Knucklehead!" Rouge just laughed at him, and he threw his hands up in the air and got up from the couch to stomp off into the kitchen, leaving the two their to watch as the reporter described the 'accident' as 'an unexpected phenomenon that the police are looking into for the cause'.

"I wonder if it really was an accident," Rouge wondered aloud, "or if some idiot was messing with fireworks."

"Yeah," Shadow agreed, "that sounds probable. Damn humans and their celebrations…"

"Bad experience, much?"

"It was the Fourth of July, and some kids decided it would be funny to tie firecrackers to my shoes."

"Haha, sounds like fun."

"They all exploded when the jets on my shoes went off, and I ended up slamming through a brick wall."

"What happened at New Year's?"

"You don't want to know."

_Later that evening…_

Shadowpaw sighed heavily as she flopped onto her bed, but she felt as though everything had gone rather well today, considering how easy it was. _Even Cream was surprised when I was really nice to her,_ she smirked and rolled over on her side, ready to take a nap or something (it seemed that being polite could take a lot out of you – which may be the reason for Cream's early bedtimes) when three soft knocks on her door made her ears swivel in its direction. She called without moving, "Who is it?"

"Shadow."

She sighed silently, not knowing a way to make him go away without being rude and ruining her chances at winning the bet, and she regrettably answered, "Come in." Sitting up as he came in, she looked at him with a secret wish that he was only coming to tell her 'good night' or something – but the look in his eyes said otherwise, and she mentally sighed before turning to face him properly and sitting cross-legged with her hands in her lap. Absentmindedly hoping that the politeness wasn't going to rub off on her permanently, she asked him as politely as was possible when she was tired, "What do you need me for?"

"Do I have to need something to come and talk to you?" He grinned cheekily, but he wasn't being rude, so he was still safe to smirk and such (as long as it wasn't at anything vulgar or anything). She wanted to scowl at him, but that wouldn't be polite, so she instead shook her head and sighed as she waited for him to start some sort of conversation.

Whatever he was _really_ here for, though, couldn't be good.

He, deciding that standing was too tiring, went over and sat beside her on the bed, glancing at her for a moment before looking up at the ceiling as he asked, "So, how is Feather?"

"He's doing fine," she answered frankly, and then added, "although he needs to stop trying to read books that are too hard for him. He's going to explode his poor little head with all of those big words, like 'equivalent' and 'chrysalis'." She smiled for a moment, but she was too tired to hold it up for long, and so it dropped as she looked down at the ground in boredom. _That can't be _all _he wants to know. That's not like Shadow._

He nodded as if he was glad to hear the news, and then proceeded to ask her, "How about you? Are _you_ doing good?"

"You know, there _is _such a thing as being too polite," she told him, not uncouthly, but in a sort of warning tone, as if he was on thin ice with a jackhammer. However, he turned his head to her and grinned as if he enjoyed the dangerous sport, saying, "Well, if I'm bothering you, go ahead and tell me."

She didn't say anything to that, and he continued to grin as he knew that he had her beat in that area. _Damn,_ she thought, _he's got a point. But, how do you say that without being mean about it?_ Mentally frowning, she was startled out of her thoughts when he reminded her, "I asked you a question."

"Huh?"

"Remember? I asked how you were." He raised an eyebrow, as if surprised that she could forget something that fast, and she pulled a blank for a second before giving a soft 'oh' and feeling a bit embarrassed. _Geez, short-memory loss, much?_

"Umm, good." She nodded as if to assure him of the 'fine' status, but he crossed his arms and gave her a look that showed he didn't believe her. After a moment of this look, she tilted her head to the side and asked, "What? You don't believe me?"

"Oh, I don't doubt you," he looked away, "but I just think that that's a very vague description."

"…Err, okay." She frowned for a moment, wondering what he could possibly want to know, before mentally shrugging and deciding it couldn't hurt. "Well, today I…I finally got around to finishing a picture I had stopped working on last week because I…got distracted." _Because lost week, Sly kept coming into the room and complimenting me on my work, suggesting I try doing nude pictures instead._ She tried not to blush at the reminder, and she shook the thought from her mind as the hedgehog cocked his head curiously at her. _Damn, he looks like a dog doing that._ Oh, how she hated dogs so much.

"What was the picture about?"

"Umm…" Remembering how Sly would tease her about that as well, she finally did blush a bit and muttered as she looked away, "Actually, i-it was…you…"

"Really?" That seemed to perk his interest, for her scooted a bit closer and inquired, "Doing what?"

"Well…" Suddenly very uncomfortable on the subject, she had to fight the blush to speak normally, only succeeding to stutter, "your little Chaos Boom or whatever…"

"Chaos Blast," he corrected, and then asked, "Can I see it?"

"Uhh…" She scratched the back of her head nervously and tried to evade the idea by saying, "I-it's not really _that_ good, I mean, the proportions are a bit off and –"

"I'm sure that it can't be _that_ bad," he countered with a smirk, making her blush even more for some reason, and then he asked, "Please?"

_Aww, damn. He used the invincible 'p' word._ "Ehhh…alright, alright." She sighed and stood up from the bed, too tired and too determined to win the bet to just refuse and 'show' him the door, and she walked over to her dresser to rummage in it a bit, silently cursing (since it's not polite to say such fowl language aloud) before finally pulling out her sketchbook from a drawer and return to sit by his side. She flipped through the pages for a while, mentally scowling at herself for taking the stupid bet in the first place, until she found the right page and closed her eyes, hoping that there wasn't any way possible for someone to 'polite' insult something. _Unless he 'criticizes'…aww, damn._

"Hmm…" She slightly flinched at the sound of him thinking over the picture, and she could only imagine what he was thinking. Every kind of bad thing that he could see in it went through her mind, making her stomach clench uncomfortably until finally she stopped to wonder why she cared. _I mean, it's not like his opinion _matters_. I've already drawn the damn thing._ But, after mulling it over a bit more, she mentally frowned as she realized, _I wouldn't want someone to draw a bad picture of _me_, so…I guess it does still count, a bit._ Feeling like she would explode from the pressure, she finally opened an eye to glance first at the picture and then at the hedgehog gazing at it.

Both of her eyes opened up wide as she stared at him in surprise; he had that thoughtful face, yes, but he was nodding at it as if agreeing with its image, taking a finger to trace a curling of smoke to its source at his foot. He was examining it like one would a future pet – something that you can't just completely diss, but you had to point out all of its good (and bad) points before buying. Shocked that he could even _look_ at it, she looked down at it herself and examined her work. The black hedgehog was hovering slightly over the ground (although she was never really good with backgrounds) and had a sort of force-field looking thing that filled up most of the paper, with smoke here and there to add to the effect of destruction. At first she had tried to put a car in the bottom left corner of the black-and-white sketch, but she proved unable to draw it in her standards and gave up to instead turn it into a dumpster, something that she was familiar with since she had lived on the streets of cities and such for her childhood (or, at least, as long as she could remember). The top corners were filled up with the rubble of buildings and houses, but she couldn't find anything to take up the bottom-right corner and had left it blank, which really bothered her now. Shadow's spikes were floating up and crackling with power, and she was sure that if she had colored it the picture would look wickedly awesome. Well, it could, anyways.

It seemed that Shadow had the same thoughts, for her waved his hand over the picture and suggested. "You know, it would look a lot better if it was bigger and in color."

"What," she frowned, a bit offended by how he put it, "you think it's no good?"

"No, no," he shook his head quickly to dispel her assumptions, "that's not what I meant. I mean," he picked up the sketchbook and set it upright on his leg to show her, "if the picture was bigger so you could focus on the details, and if you had added color to it in either pencil or oil pastels or something, it would probably be perfect." Then, as if finding that it was too complimenting or something, he added, "But, that would take a lot of work and time, and besides you'd need a canvas or something." He looked away, as if embarrassed from being caught purposefully being nice, and Shadowpaw couldn't help but find it a bit funny. _And…cute…_

"But, it was a nice thought," she admitted, and she smiled a tiny bit at him and told him, "Thanks." He glanced at her for a moment, as if surprised by her gratitude, before his face grew a bit red and he looked away again. Finally, Shadowpaw couldn't help it and laughed, and he crossed his arms and continued to look away from her as she said, "Don't be embarrassed or anything! That's the first step to recovery from being a jerk!" When he turned his head as if to say something, she held up a finger and added, "That wasn't polite, that was true."

His mouth snapped shut for a moment, a sour look on his face, before he looked down and mumbled, "Well, perhaps being brutally honest isn't exactly nice at times…"

"Fine, you want an apology?" When he glanced at her for a moment but didn't reply, she rolled her eyes and patted him on the shoulder. "Alright – I'm sorry. I didn't know that it would offend you. Okay, all better now? Or do you need a hug?" She grinned as he turned his head away to look at the wall, and she noticed that she enjoyed teasing him like this – polite but still fun to do – and she planned to do it every night for the next week (and maybe even after that, too). Then, she chuckled a little and leaned over to grip him in a big hug, and he jumped up a bit before trying to get her off. But, she just laughed some more and questioned, "I'm not bothering you, am I? If I am, be sure to tell me!"

Oh, this was so much fun, indeed. Perhaps it wasn't so bad to take the bet, after all.

"Will you – _please_ – let go of me?!"

"Am I bothering you?"

"_Yes._"

"Okay, fine." She let go and then poked his shoulder as she laughed, "I think that you just need a hug, though."

"No, thanks. I've had enough hugs for tonight."

"Okay!" She grinned, a glint of mischievousness in her eyes much like she had when she was a kid. "I'll just wait for tomorrow!"

Shadow sighed, looking like he regretted walking into her room. "Great…"

_The next morning…_

"Hey, Shadow!"

The hedgehog flinched (although it wasn't Sly this time) and prayed to whatever god there was up there that it wasn't who he thought it was, but when he turned around only to nearly get tackled into a hug he sighed and closed his eyes.

"Shadowpaw…"

She let go of him, grinning madly as if he was the most hilarious thing in the world, and he mentally rolled his eyes before he asked her (politely), "What are you doing here?"

"What, I can't walk around the hallways, too?"

_The way she said it makes it sound as if she's stalking me…_ Shivering at the thought of her being like Periwinkle (after all, following and glomping are the two things that the fox does best), he shook his head and said 'whatever' before continuing to walk down the hallway, hoping she would take it as a (polite) sign that he didn't want to talk right now. Unfortunately, it seemed she either didn't get it or just ignored it, for she hurried up to walk beside him, looking like she was about to start skipping (like Cream – she certainly followed Shadow around like the rabbit). He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, wondering why she was smiling like that, before mentally shaking his head and asking calmly, "So, what do you seriously want?"

She laughed, which caused him to raise an eyebrow, and she looked at him and asked, "What, you don't want me here?"

_Yeah._ He just shrugged.

"Hm, well then I guess I'll give myself a reason to stay." She was quiet for a moment, thinking for a reason, and then she informed him, "So, I decided to go with your idea and put it on a canvas."

"Really?" A bit surprised that she did, he glanced over at her to see her looking up at the ceiling as she walked, and he imagined her walking into a wall or something and smirked before she came back to Earth and looked at him, seeing the look on his face and getting a bit red in the face. However, she just looked away again, and he wondered about the strange behavior before shaking it off as nothing and looking away from her.

"Y-yeah," his eyebrow raised at her stuttering, "I did. I'm still debating on what I should use to draw it, but I'm going to make it bigger like you said." Then, his attention drew to her when she raised her hand to nervously scratch the back of her head, and she mumbled, "I mean, it seems like a good idea…"

Not knowing whether he should speak or not, he kept quiet as did she, and they were silent up until they got to the stairs and started to walk down them, to which suddenly Shadowpaw decided to ask, "So, are you doing anything later?"

"Mmm, no," Shadow admitted, before glancing at her and raising an eyebrow, "why are you asking?"

She looked up at the ceiling and announced, "Well, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me to the store or something. You know, like take over shopping duty for whoever does it this week, and go to Wal-Mart or whatever to pick up some stuff."

Shadow, suddenly getting an idea, stopped on his way down the stairs and grinned at her, teasing, "What, are you asking me out on a date or something? I thought that that was the man's job, but I could be wrong." He watched with satisfaction as she stopped as well a little ahead of him and looked back at him while her face grew red with embarrassment, and he crossed his arms to smirk at her as she stammered, "N-no, th-that wasn't w-what I was thinking at all! I was j-just, I mean, thinking of going t-to get some…stuff…" She finished it lamely and turned away so she didn't have to keep watching him smirk at her triumphantly, and he chuckled to himself as she quickly took the last steps two at a time and nearly tripped and fell flat on her face at the bottom. _Man, she's hilarious when she's embarrassed – and she can't yell at me to cover it up._ Loving the bet more every minute, he reached the bottom of the stairs and followed her out the door, wondering if anything fun was going to happen while they were out.

_Later, at the store…_

"Omigosh, is that _Shadow?_"

"Sweet Mother of Pearl, it _is!_ Hey, _Shadow!_"

"Maybe it was a bad idea to come to a big store," Shadowpaw chuckled nervously as they both ran away from the people chasing them, screaming Shadow's name and raving like a pack of hungry wolves about how they wanted to marry him and have his kids and blah, blah, blah.

Shadow glared at the girls (and guys) behind him and muttered, "_Maybe?_"

They had to keep running, for the fangirls were smart enough to know that they'd need a lot of stamina to keep up with their idol, and they finally lost them when they slipped into the fast-food restaurant inside the store and sat down at a table to pick up menus and hide behind them (classic). The two humans beside them blinked in surprise and confusion, and Shadowpaw whispered over to them, "Just pretend that we're supposed to be here."

They nodded, and they camped out there for a couple of minutes to make sure that the coast was clear. After they were gone and the two apologized to the manager of the place, they carefully walked out and cautiously made their way through the aisles, making sure to avoid suspicious looking people creeping around the place, and managed to get all the way outside of the Wal-Mart with their stuff before they were spotted again. Seeking a quick way to disappear, Shadowpaw took some random guy's hat and rubbed it all over Shadow's head, and as the hedgehog glared at her sourly she quickly threw it through the air and shouted, "Hey, that's a hat that Shadow the Hedgehog touched!"

As the mob screamed and rushed after the article of clothing, Shadowpaw quickly grabbed his hand at the distraction and rushed to the closest hiding place – the photo booth. Dragging him in and quickly closing the curtains, the two were in semi-darkness as they listened to each other panting heavily from running so much. After a while of sitting there trying to catch their breaths, Shadowpaw asked him between panting, "Have you _always_ had to deal with that?"

"Sometimes," he admitted just as wearily, "and other times there are those psychos who are determined that I am a monster and that they should shoot at me."

"Yeowch," she winced, and then sympathized with him as she said, "it sounds like it sucks to be famous."

"Yeah," he nodded, glancing at the curtain anxiously as if expecting them to jump in and attack him at any moment, "it sucks to be me. I don't know how Sonic deals with it."

"Well, there _is_ Amy," she reminded him, and they both snickered at that for a little while before suddenly they realized that they were still holding hands. Shadowpaw's face turned beet red as she quickly let go of his hand and scooted a bit away while he withdrew his hand and turned his head to stare at the door as if nothing had happened, although his face was a bit flushed as well. Shadowpaw gulped and looked away to stare at the screen where, if they were taking pictures, would show their faces on it. _Eek, that was awkward._ Scolding herself mentally for forgetting to let go of his hand, she was startled out of her thoughts when he moved to get closer to her – or was it away from the door? – and asked her, "So, err, what should we do while we wait for the crazy fans to go away?"

"U-u-uhh…" For some reason, the most perverted things went through her mind at that sentence, and she made sure he couldn't see her face radiating like a tomato as she thought, _what the hell?! Dammit, Sly, you've been around me too long!!_ Then, when he nudged her for an answer, she jumped and hit her elbow on the wall of the booth. Her eyes watered at the pain, and she bit her tongue to stop from yelling and giving their hiding spot away, instead clutching her arm and leaning forward a bit to envelope it in the warmth of her stomach in an attempt to drown out the funny feeling she got from hitting her 'funny bone'. _But it's not funny. At. All._

He had heard the thump, but it took until she moved forward to realize that it was her. "…What, did you hit something?" He frowned at her, wondering why she was cradling her arm, and when she nodded without saying a word he mulled something over, being silent as he did so. Then, seeing it as something he should do, he reached an arm over and around her shoulders, and she found her face getting hotter and redder by the moment. _Aww, dammit, I hate you Sly. I hate your guts. Go to Hell, you bastard._ You see, although he thought of it as a 'comforting friend-type' of hug, Shadowpaw had been tortured day and night by Sly coming over to flirt and suggest 'fun things' to pass the time with (hence her reaction to his question of what to do), and so, to put it simply, her mind was in the gutter since the 'passing time' question and was going deeper and deeper into it with everything that he did.

_Sonuvabitch, Sly. I don't care if you get arrested and given to the electric chair – just __**stop **__**torturing**__** me!!**_

Shadow frowned at her strange behavior (i.e. keeping her face turned away from him, shifting nervously beside him) and said carefully, "…Shadowpaw?" She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, further confusing him when she blushed again, and then she gulped and shakily said, "Y-yeah, Shadow?"

"How about…we bring Feather next time?"

"…Huh? Oh, yeah, sure." Trying to dispel her nervousness, she joked, "Then we could throw him at them and yell 'this is the Chao that he takes care of'! I'm sure _that _would distract them for a while."

They both laughed a little at that, although the feline was still a bit uneasy from everything that had happened that day; all the way from him teasing her about asking him to come along – which she now regretted – to him giving her a hug, and she had acted strange around it all. _And dammit, I can't get mad at him and yell! Damn bet! Damn hedgehog! __**DAMN SLY!!**_

"Shadowpaw, you're muttering under your breath. Are you talking about Sly or something?"

"Huh, what?" She looked at him and chuckled nervously. "Oh, no, of course not! Just…wondering if we would be able to sneak past the fangirls if they were still out there…ya know?"

He frowned at her for a moment before nodding his head in agreement and taking his arm off of her shoulders to take a small peak through the curtain. Shadowpaw sighed in relief when he was away from her, and she congratulated herself, _nice save, or you would've exploded._

_Meanwhile, back at the mansion…_

Kussia smirked, congratulating himself for hacking into the cameras around the town that Shadow and Shadowpaw had gone to, and he sighed and marveled aloud to himself, "I'm so awesome, I can barely believe it myself! Oh, wait!" He smirked and laughed, "I _can!_" As he cackled madly like some evil warlock or something, the red fox beside him rolled his eyes and shook his head. "You have a superiority complex," he commented, and the hologram of the squirrel's computer (who was now a neon blue squirrel) nodded her head and agreed.

"Sometimes, I'm amazed that he created me."

"So…are you into master/slave?"

"No." And that was that.

_Cast Commentaries:_

DL: (is cackling madly like Kussia was at the end of the chapter)

Everyone else: (sweatdrops)

DL: – ahahahahahaha…aha…ha… (clears throat) Okay, now I'm done. Soooo? (looks expectantly at readers) What do you think? Good, right? And, I've finally gotten some awesome embarrassing moments of Shadowpaw recorded (via Kussia), so that everyone in the household would be able to watch it like home movies whenever Kussia decides he wants to blackmail her! (or Shadow) MUAHAHAHAHA (continues laughter)

Shadowpaw: Oh, GREAT! PERFECT! (glares at Shadow) It's all YOUR FAULT!

Shadow: (scowls) MY fault? YOU didn't HAVE to accept the bet! (points at her) So it's YOUR fault!

Shadowpaw: NUH-UH!

Shadow: YEAH-HUH!

Shadowpaw: NUH-UH!

Shadow: YEAH-HUH!

Kussia: (blinks) Wow, I've never seen Shadow act so immaturely. Can't say the same for Shadowpaw, though. (uses camera to video tape it all) I can sell this and become even MORE rich!

Sly: Oh, please, (rolls eyes) you're rich ENOUGH. I mean, what the hell – a mansion, self-supplying kitchens, huge-ass televisions with nearly every movie and game known to mankind and about 80 known to monkeys? (crosses arms and glared) And you didn't even EARN all of it.

Kussia: (smirks) Ooooh, I think someone's JEALOUS!

Sly: (scowls) Nope. I'm just disgusted. You got your money from your parents!

Kussia: (glares) Don't _talk _about them. And how did you learn about that? _Snooping?_

Sly: No. (points at DL) She told me.

Kussia: (points glare to her)

DL: (shrugs) What? He asked!

Kussia: (slaps forehead and sighs) Whatever, just…end the commentaries! By the way, is it just me, or is Shadowpaw suddenly starting to say – err, think – 'aww damn' a lot?

Shadowpaw: (blushes a bit, then growls) Shut up.


	16. Her Worst Fears

Chapter 16  
Her Worst Fears

DL: WHOO!! That was a FAST update! (does happy dance) I am soooooo awesome! So, how will the first-half of the week of 'politeness' turn out? Well, you'll find out when you read on!

Silence…

DL: Err… (sweatdrops) Yeah, umm, the cast is on coffee break…so, I'll just put up my new favorite disclaimer and be off while you read the (surprisingly longer) chapter! (sets down sign, waves, and then walks off)

Sign: Sonic and the rest belong to Sonic Team, not DL – she is only borrowing them for her plot and her pleasure. (and scribbled in the corner) She also doesn't own any movie, game, or song references.

_Back at the photo booth…_

Finally, the coast was clear as the fans had all split after half of an hour of searching, figuring he had gone off after seeing the clouds coming in, and the feline slipped out of the booth and cautiously looked around before beckoning Shadow out with, "The coast's clear." He then came out, glancing around as well, and then he told her to hold onto his arm so that they could zip back home. She obliged nervously, holding his arm tightly even though she didn't want to as he gripped hers as well, and she couldn't help it when her face grew red again from the thought of holding hands again. Shadow didn't seem to be bothered by it, though, or maybe the thought didn't cross his mind until they got to the mansion. Even then, he just let go and walked to the front door, acting as if nothing had happened like he had before.

A bit irked by his behavior before wondering what she _was _expecting, Shadowpaw shook her head to try to clear her mind of those silly thoughts as she walked up behind him at the front door. He then knocked on the door twice, crossing his arms as he waited for someone to open it while Shadowpaw stood there with all of the bags of stuff. _I got the canvas while we were there,_ she thought happily, glad that she could start working on the project Shadow had suggested, before remembering that she was drawing him and her face reddened a bit more at the notion. _Damn, I might as well paint my face red! It might be less noticeable that way._ She rolled her eyes, but then looked back at the front door as it opened with Sly on the other side. The feline noticed Shadow's hands tighten into fists at his sides, but then they relaxed as he nodded to the fox and told him, "Good evening, Sly."

"Good evening to you, too!" Sly seemed extremely happy to see his 'buddy', which made Shadowpaw smile, but then it was turned into a frown when suddenly Shadow stepped to the side and looked at her expectantly. She blinked, feeling like a deer in headlights as she was confused by his actions, before finally he gestured to the door and said, "Ladies first."

_Holy crap, he just called me a lady!_ Feeling a bit embarrassed for being so stupid to not figure it out herself, her face flushed as she muttered 'thanks' and hurried into the house, hearing thunder boom in the distance just as she stepped in the door. _Thank God we didn't get caught up in _that_, _she thought thankfully as she made her way to her room, dropping off some bags in the kitchen before continuing up the stairs. _I should probably get started on the painting now that I've got everything I need._

_The next morning, Day Three of the bet…_

"Nnnn…" Shadowpaw felt something prodding her in the side, and she retaliated by sticking her foot out and hooking the closest thing she could find to try to knock it over and make it stop. Unfortunately, being half-asleep and irritable in the morning (and with her eyes closed, it didn't improve her aim anymore) made her bound to fail, and instead she ended up pulling the poor creature into bed with her. Being too exhausted to care (she had stayed up most of the night trying to figure out how the hell she'd get started on that painting of hers), she just continued to try to slip back asleep before suddenly she found a voice dangerously close to her ear say, "I didn't think you felt that way about me, Shadowpaw, but this is a little sudden…"

"…Ngh?" Muttering nonsense that even she didn't understand, she turned her head and opened an eye to find that Kussia was staring back at her, blinking expectantly and looking as innocent as anything. Taking a moment to consider the situation, eventually it clicked in her sleep-deprived mind and her eyes snapped open to the size of dinner plates as she quickly squirmed and pushed him off the bed (accidentally, of course) as she screeched, "Ack, what are you _doing_ in my _room?!_"

"Well, _sorry,_" the squirrel stood up from the ground and dusted himself off with a frown on his face, "but I came in here to wake you up, and then _you_ pulled me into bed with you." Then, he looked up at her with his trademark smirk and said, "Besides, friends don't let drunk friends drive, so why should I let you sleep in? It's about time you got up, anyways – it's ten o'clock."

"Great," she muttered before getting up and stretching reluctantly, her body just wanting to collapse into the feathery softness of her bed again, but, not wanting another repeat of that morning to happen, she slipped out of bed and straightened her rumpled Matrix-like overcoat until it was as neat as possible. The squirrel frowned at this and suggested, "How about you get that cleaned? You've been wearing it for a while (A/N: since your birthday, eww!) and my laundry gets done pretty quick."

She looked down at herself again, frowning at his suggestion, and then she looked up and complained, "Well, what will I wear until then? Besides, Amy wears the same outfit everyday, and no one tells _her_ to change it." She then turned around so she could make a face in private (after all, it's not polite to talk bad things about someone when they're not there), and Kussia sighed and replied, "Amy has a _million_ of those dresses, and besides, that's not a valid reason. And I'm sure that you could find someone around your size to lend you clothes in the meantime."

"Hmm, well, let's see here," she put a finger to her chin, faking deep thought, "the people even remotely around my size are: Shadow, Sonic, Amy, Rouge, and Periwinkle. Now, the people that wear _clothes _in that list are Amy, Rouge, and Periwinkle. Now, with Amy being younger than me (therefore too short) and Rouge being older than me (making her too tall), that leaves Periwinkle with all of her skirts and dresses."

"Hmm…" Kussia thought about it for a moment, then shrugged and said, "You could always ask Rouge for old hand-me-downs or something. Or, you can deal with sitting around in a towel for a little while."

Shadowpaw raised an eyebrow at him and repeated, "Towel?"

"Well, I'm going to assume that you'll take a shower before getting into your clothes again, right?" He scrunched his nose and commented, "It would be kind of nasty to jump right back into your clean clothes when you're filthy."

_Damn, you didn't have to say it like that,_ she mumbled mentally, _but he does have a point._ The prospect of a shower irked her, though, and it was only with reluctance that she nodded her head and said, "Okay, I'll go." Looking grimly at him as he left, the feline sighed and shook her head, wondering what she should do. _I mean, I don't want to take a shower, but it's been a while _(A/N: ewwwwww)_ and I need one… But, the water! Gah! Being a cat sucks…_ Then, wondering what she was going to do with her clothes, she crossed her arms and thought aloud, "Well, I could take it off and run to the bathroom in a towel… Nah, that would be awkward if I ran into anyone. Err…I could take a shower, and then wait around in a towel while it's getting clean. Umm…I could take a shower, borrow someone's clothes, and _then_ change into my clean ones. Yeah!" She nodded to herself, agreeing with the probable idea. "I've just got to get someone else's clothes. Hmm…"

_A few minutes later…_

_Knock-knock._

The white bat raised an eyebrow at the door, and then called curiously, "Who is it?" She was in the middle of a battle of wits against Knuckles (after all, he said he was smarter than her, and she just had to prove him wrong) and she didn't want to get interrupted unless it was important.

"It's Shadowpaw, and I need a favor."

"Can't it wait for a moment?"

"No."

Rouge sighed and stood up, giving the echidna in front of her a warning glare to not mess up anything on the chess board, and he rolled his eyes as she walked over to the door and opened it to look at the feline questioningly. A bit irked that she was disturbed from her 'business', she asked her, "Yes? What do you need?"

"Do you have any – oh, hey, Knuckles." The echidna waved from inside the room, and Shadowpaw gave them both a strange look (after all, Rouge was standing in the way of chessboard) before looking at the bat and saying, "I was wondering if you have any old clothes that don't fit you anymore or something."

"Hm…" Rouge put a finger on her chin thoughtfully, trying to think of all that was in her closet. "…Well, I have my old outfit from Sonic Heroes. Wanna try that on?"

"Err…anything else?"

"Nope. Take it or leave it."

Shadowpaw sighed and said, "Alright, thank you, Rouge." The bat nodded as she walked back inside to find the outfit, revealing Knuckles sitting at the table and glaring at the chessboard in an attempt to find a way to beat her with his fists clenched and teeth gritted. Shadowpaw blinked – her mind had been thinking about other things the two could be doing – but snapped out of it when Rouge came back holding the pink-and-purple outfit from what seemed to be so long ago. Shadowpaw took it from her, giving her another 'thank you' before she closed the door, and sighed in defeat as she looked at the damned article of clothing that she had to wear until hers were dry.

"Well, I should probably get into that damn shower now…" Grumbling dark things to thin air about the evil of water and all that it dealt with (damn washing machines!), she quickly strode to one of the bathrooms in the idea of getting it over with quickly.

It…didn't exactly go as she planned it, though.

After she stepped into the bathroom, locked the door behind her, tossed the clothes onto the toilet seat and turned to the shower, she frowned and stared at the accursed shower and tried to think up a way she could avoid actually stepping into it. _I could use a washcloth and wet it a little, and…_ "Nah, that isn't good enough…" _I could go to another bathroom and take a bath instead…_ "No, I could drown." _Well then, I could step in, get wet, turn off the water to…_ "Now that's just ridiculous."

After many minutes of pondering in silence as she stared down the shower, she threw her hands up in the air and grumbled, "Fine! I give!" Growling at the shower as if it would be intimidated, she shed her clothes and stepped in, glaring up at the showerhead and spitting, "_Do your worst._"

She turned one of the knobs, and she yelped like a frightened dog (which embarrassed her to Hell) when her back was scorched with hot water before she quickly turned the other knob and it turned cold. Wincing at the burning sensation still on her back, she sighed and tried to calm down. _Come on, it's just water! You can't drown in a shower, unless you're like a turkey in the rain and look up at the falling water with your mouth hanging open._ Smiling a little at that, it quickly dropped when she felt the water dripping down her face and quickly stepped away from the spray to wipe her eyes. Taking a moment to calm her breathing, she looked at the water anxiously and mumbled, "Why do you freak me out so much?"

Angry at being frightened by something so stupid, she bravely took a step forward and was under the relentless spray of water again, and as she tilted her head so that it didn't get into her eyes, she quickly washed her hair as the itching feeling of nervousness started to creep into her systems once more. Unfortunately, as she stood there and tried not to freak out, she heard a squeak and suddenly got whacked hard in the head by something metal before it fell on her foot and she was getting sprayed in the face. Fighting the water away and eventually getting out of the spray, she realized that it had one of those removable showerheads and it had fallen from its perch to smack her on the head (well, that makes it sound like an inanimate object purposefully did that...). Grumbling and sticking the damn thing back up there, she said aloud, "Showers are _soooooo_ annoying."

As she went back to washing, that feeling of heaviness from the water settling onto her fur and weighing her down made a chill go up her spine, as if she was underwater and it was trying to drag her down underneath the surface. She tried to wipe the water away and make it stop, but it was pointless when she was still standing under the spray and she only ended up getting shampoo in her eye. As she hissed and held her head while tipping it forward, water spilled down her forehead and got more painful liquid into her eyes, which made her finally step away from the spray to use a towel to wipe them dry.

Eventually she couldn't take it anymore and she stepped out of the water again, panting irregularly although she hadn't been doing anything that could tire her out. _Dammit, I can't take this, it's suffocating._ Turning off the water and pushing aside the curtain, she stepped out of the shower as if it was a pit of lava and grabbed the towel to dry herself, before she sat down on the toilet seat and put her head in her hands.

_I feel like I'm drowning in there, _she shivered at the thought, _and I can't help it. I'd rather run around smelling like a barn or something. _Still shaking slightly from the jarring experience, she stood up and grabbed the outfit she received from Rouge, holding it up and examining it with a frown. _Damn, Rouge, you're so…__**big.**_ She sighed as she put it on, frowning at strange belt that circled around her waist with a heart on it, and decided to skip the boots as she picked them up with her overcoat and walked out of the bathroom, the fur on her head still a bit wet. She felt a bit uncomfortable with the material that immediately clung to her body because of the dampened fur, but to try to make herself feel better she kept chanting in her head, _it's only for a little while. Just hold it out, it's only for a little while._ That mantra helped her make it all the way to the laundry room, only to find a curious sight.

Who else would she meet on her way to clean her clothes in possibly the most revealing outfit she would ever wear in her life but the infamous red fox?

Said fox was just in the process of throwing his gloves in with the rest of the clothes in one of the washers, and he was emptying out some things in there for a moment before he realized Shadowpaw was there. He quickly put his bare hands behind his back (although whether to hide the fact that they were bare or what was in them was uncertain) and looked at her with an eyebrow raised, his eyes sweeping her up and down before asking, "What are you wearing?" He didn't seem to be complaining, however – just surprised.

"Err, it's…Rouge's old clothes," the feline explained it by waving her clothes in the air before tossing them into the washing machine, and he nodded in understanding before finally chucking his gloves in with it and closing the door. He pressed the button and then turned to face her fully, that eyebrow raising again as her face darkened under his watch (although, how that's possible with her fur being black isn't clear) before she crossed her arms and moved her weight to her left foot as if challenging him to say something about her. In fact, she was _daring_ him to. _Go on, see if I don't find a way to be politely mean to you, you __**bastard.**__ I still blame you for yesterday._ Feeling a bit outraged because of the reminder, she turned her head to look at a painting on the wall (wow, Kussia's rich enough to afford putting elegant works of art in his _laundry room?_) so that she didn't have to stare directly at the object of her hatred. He, however, felt like doing casual conversation.

"So, how was yesterday?"

_Dammit! Of all the things to ask, he has to talk about __**that!**_ The feline glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, and then grumbled, "Fine…" She wasn't going to give him any juicy details – she still blamed him for all of her problems.

"What did you and Shadow do while you guys were out?"

She answered quickly, "Shopping." Maybe a bit _too_ quickly. She realized her mistake when Sly had a certain glint in his eyes that she had seen way too often, and she flushed slightly and choked, "I'm serious! We went shopping!"

"Oh, I don't doubt you," he said with a grin on his face that made her nervous, "but I just have to wonder what _else_ you two could have been doing that would take up the rest of the day…"

_Eww! What is he thinking?!_ "I _told_ you, me and Shadow went to go shopping! The only reason we were delayed was because of those da – I mean, because of his fanbase." She caught herself from cursing, remembering the bet at the last minute and saving herself from utter humiliation. _Although the dress can't be much worse than __**this**__ outfit. I swear, the looks Sly's giving me… _ She shivered and stopped that train of thought to decide that she wanted to wait in her room – Kussia's room – _anywhere __**other**_ than where Sly was. Before she left, though, Sly waved and said, "Good-bye, Shadowpaw! You know, you should wear purple more often. It's a beautiful color on a beautiful feline such as yourself."

Shadowpaw was lucky that she was walking out of there, or he would have seen the blush on her face from his comment as she made a quick escape. Unfortunately, she didn't check to see if anyone was in the hallway and ended up bumping into someone on her way to her room. She looked up to find Kussia blinking in slight surprise with one arm out of his camouflage vest and the other working its way out, and getting even more red in the face she quickly did an about-face and went the other way, fuming, _what is it with guys getting undressed out in the open?!_ She swore, if she caught Shadow taking off his gloves and shoes in the hallway or something, she would strangle him. Not that it would really make a difference anyways, but it was still irritating. (A/N: Hmm…I've always wondered, if Amy caught Sonic with his gloves and shoes, and socks, off, would she cover her eyes and scream 'aahhh, Sonic's naked'?)

As she got around the corner and onto the hallway she was originally aiming for, (sometimes this place felt like a hospital, with all of its winding hallways and million escape routes) Sly's words whirled around in her mind like a swarm of angry bees that irritated her into a headache. _"So, how was yesterday?" "Oh, I don't doubt you, but I just have to wonder what else you two could have been doing that would take up the rest of the day…" "Good-bye, Shadowpaw! You know, you should wear purple more often. It's a beautiful color on a beautiful feline such as yourself."_

Gradually, she slowed in her walking until she came to a complete stop, and as she stood there with a frown on her face with her gaze on the ground before her, she mumbled, "Am I really…_pretty?_"

"Excuse me?"

She jumped nearly a foot in the air and whirled around in fright to realize that Amy and Periwinkle (they seemed to have become close friends, with their similar styles and obsessions) had walked up behind her while they were immersed in fevered gossip, and then both of their eyes widened as they saw what Shadowpaw was wearing. The feline felt her face light up bright red for what seemed like the millionth time, and they must have seen the look on her face and knew she was going to leave because they both leapt over and grabbed her arms to stop her from running. Ironically, Shadowpaw felt like she was the mouse getting pounced by two hungry cats, and she inwardly scowled at the quirk of fate and hoped it would never be repeated again.

"Wait, don't leave!"

"It's not like I can go anywhere now," Shadowpaw muttered to herself, and the two girly-girls looked at each other before letting her go and standing beside her curiously. At the looks on their faces, the feline sighed and explained the morning to them, from getting a rude awakening to putting clothes in the washing machine. She left out the little bits about Kussia in her bed and being scared out of her wits by the shower, but it was mostly the truth otherwise. When she was done, the two girls thought about it in silence for a moment, before suddenly a silent message was exchanged between them as they simultaneously dragged the feline behind them.

Shadowpaw yelped and shouted, "What are you guys _doing?_"

Periwinkle turned to look behind at her and smiled, explaining, "We're going to have some fun, Shadowpaw! And you're going to like it!"

_For some strange reason,_ Shadowpaw muttered reluctantly to herself, _I have a feeling that, if they have to drag me there, I won't agree with them._

_Meanwhile…_

Shadow was calmly walking into the laundry room to toss his bed sheets in the washer – Feather had a little 'accident' with a watermelon and a hammer – and had just sighed heavily when suddenly he was knocked into and whirled around a bit from the strong force of it. As he recovered from it and shook his head to stop it from spinning (the result from the cartoon-style whirlwind), he frowned as the squirrel in there said, "Oh, hey, Shadow."

"What the h – what was that?" He caught himself before he could mess up, and he thought he saw Kussia smirk before the owner of the mansion explained, "Oh, that was Sly running as if the Devil was on his heels."

"Let me rephrase that – what was that _for?_"

Kussia rolled his eyes, as if the prospect of explaining was annoying in itself, and made Shadow that much more curious. Then, the squirrel turned to put his vest into one of the other open washing machines (hey, he's got a dozen of them in that laundry room), and he drawled simply as he turned the dial and pressed some buttons, "Oh, Sly heard from Rouge, who was walking down the hallway and popped her head in to see if Shadowpaw was there, that the girls were trying to pull a fashion show on the poor feline. It seems that he is eager to go and 'see' it, but I doubt he'll be allowed in." Then, after he flipped on the washer and turned to face Shadow properly, he added, "Now, the right thing for me to do would be to go and stop him, but I'd rather do the _smart_ thing and just let him get pummeled by the girls." He snickered mischievously. "It's much more fun that way."

As the hedgehog mulled over that information, a little ding brought both of their attentions to one of the dryers as the door dropped open automatically. Inside was Shadowpaw's overcoat and some gloves that were probably Sly's, and Shadow was surprised when Kussia leaned over to pull it all out and toss it to him. When he looked at him puzzled, the squirrel said, "I assumed that _you_ were going to stop Sly, so on the way could you give him and Shadowpaw their stuff? Otherwise it won't be extra warm and comfortable, and," Kussia smirked with a glint in his eyes as if he knew something secret, "I _always_ like to help my friends."

More than a little unnerved by the squirrel, Shadow just sighed and quickly exited the room before he was told to do more chores. _Damn squirrel, being too lazy to go do it himself…_ Then, as an afterthought, he grumbled to himself, "Damn fox and _cat_ for having _me_ give them their clothes." Searching the hallways for a bit, he finally found Sly standing in front of a door with a strange device in his hands, and he sighed before walking up to him and opening his mouth to say something when –

"Aww, come _on,_ Shadowpaw – you'll only wear it for a second!" Amy's voice was high and clear through the door, and Shadow couldn't help but feel curiosity rearing its ugly little head as he inched closer to hear better. Sly, seeing the hedgehog beside him, grinned as he scooted over a bit to reveal a camera that he had slipped under the door, letting Shadow see the screen clearly as Shadowpaw was in clear view. Shadow's eyebrows arced up in surprise when he saw the feline in Rouge's old outfit, and he wondered, _what the hell are they…?_ Then, remembering what Kussia had said, he noticed the outfit that was in the pink hedgehog's hands, and although he couldn't see it clearly because her hands were in the way, he knew that it was red.

"It takes _more_ than a second to put this _on!_" She had her arms crossed over her chest (which Sly kept complaining about) and she shook her head at the three hopeful females and said, "_No._"

The white bat in there rolled her eyes and said, "But, Shadowpaw, it's just an _outfit!_ It won't kill you!"

"Not yet, it won't," she 'grumbled' loudly to herself, and then pointed at the three and told them, "Alright, but if I _don't_ like it, I _won't_ wear it."

"Well, try it first, and then decide!" Amy, seeming happy that the feline was easing up a bit, handed her the outfit in her hands (something that had a skirt with it, because it dropped and she had to pick it back up) and guiding her to the bathroom to change, telling her after the door closed, "But let us see it before you say you don't like it! We'd like to see you!"

_I __**really**__ shouldn't be watching them like this,_ the hedgehog frowned as he put the clothes beside the door, and he was going to leave when he heard a 'yikes!' and a _thud_ that drew his attention back to the screen. The other girls were crowded at the door, and Periwinkle asked through the door, "Are you alright, Shadowpaw?" After a moment of silence, Shadowpaw replied with a 'yeah' and explained she had slipped on a bar of soap, and Shadow slapped his forehead and thought, _of course, it'd be like _her _to slip on a bar of soap._

After that, the door opened again, and Sly turned his head to the hedgehog and whispered, "Hey, do you think that if I barge in there all of a sudden, I'll get the element of surprise and have a chance to escape?"

Shadow shook his head.

"Yeah, you're probably right…" The fox sighed and snapped his fingers, but then the next sentence out of that room made his attention zoom back to the screen in less than a split-second:

"But it's so _short!_"

Shadow (because curiosity killed the cat, but he hasn't died yet) looked as well, and then his face grew warm as he noticed that the skirt the feline was talking about _was_ too short, and from the angle of the camera, they could see up it. Immediately looking away and mentally excusing his red face as shocked instead of embarrassed, he listened to Sly snicker to himself and felt disgusted by the fox. _Damn, get a __**life.**_ He wanted to punch him square in the nose for being such a damn pervert, but, remembering about the bet (and the fact that he would probably make too much noise and catch the girls' attention, which he did _**not want**_), he just sighed and crossed his arms, waiting for it all to be over so he could give them their clothes and get the hell out of there.

"It's a school-girl outfit!"

"Maybe a _slutty_ school-girl outfit…"

Even though he heard the cat protesting, he did not dare look back and risk seeing something _else_ he didn't want to see until he heard the bathroom door shut again and he was sure the feline was in it (and, by the sounds of another _thud_ and what was probably muffled cursing, she was). He then looked over at the screen to see the girls talking quietly to themselves, and he wondered how long this would last. _After all, __**someone**__ has to notice the strange thing staring at them from under the door._ Not afraid of being caught (since he _was_ 'Shadow the Hedgehog', he could speed away and it would look like he was never there, unless someone saw the black marks from his jets) but only of being told on (he didn't trust Sly one bit), he decided that he would do his best not to get bring attention to them and to only pray to whatever god was above him that the girls wouldn't believe Sly if he did tattle. _Besides, I'm just curious – I don't have the same __**perverted**__ intentions as __**Sly**__._

Eventually, the door opened again, and he could tell that he wouldn't have another 'surprise' like that when Sly pouted and complained in a whisper, "Aww, it's too long!" Rolling his eyes at the pathetic fox, Shadow eventually chanced it and looked over at the screen to see Shadowpaw in some kind of enchantress outfit; she had on red boots that were mostly hidden under an ankle-long skirt that had a slit down the left side that started from a little bit above her knees and went down, a pair of red gloves that were lined with shining golden thread that matched the curving designs on her shirt that trailed up her sides, and long sleeves that weren't attached to shirt and were instead only kept on her arms by ties (sort of like Yuna's from Final Fantasy X), which were so big that she had to roll them up a bit to get them above the cuffs of her gloves.

Shadowpaw seemed to have the same thoughts go through her mind, because she 'mumbled', "So, what, should I summon Bahamut or something?" Although the hedgehog didn't understand the FF-X reference, he deduced it had something to do with how she looked and shook his head at her sour mood. _Geez, you would think that getting free clothes would brighten anyone's day._

"Oh, stop being such a sourpuss," Rouge smiled and patted her on the back. When the feline didn't change her expression, the bat added with a smirk, "If it makes you feel any better, it makes your boobs look bigger."

Immediately, the feline's arms flew up to cover herself as her face grew redder than her outfit, and the other girls laughed at her before giving her another outfit and pushing her back in. Sly, grinning like he was watching America's Funniest Videos, said matter-of-factly, "They _do_ look bigger, don't they?"

"Wasn't paying attention," Shadow lied, fighting the urge to fidget at the steady stare he got from the fox to instead inspect his gloves and pick off specks of dirt as if they were more interesting than anything else. He heard Sly sigh and guessed he was probably rolling his eyes, and he smirked to himself before looking up at the ceiling thoughtfully. _Hmm, I'm surprised that no one else has come by. I wonder what they're all doing…_

_Elsewhere…_

"_Knuckles!_" Tails was jumping up and down as the red echidna kept holding the remote above the poor little fox, while Sonic sat on the couch ignoring them as he watched the news. Cream was playing with Cheese and Feather on the floor in front of the television, playing a rather limited game of duck-duck-goose. Feather walked between the two, going, "Duck…duck…duck…duck…duck…duck…_goose!_" He flew off giggling like mad as the blue Chao chased after him, and Cream smiled and laughed at them as they zoomed around the living room like crazed pixies on pixie sticks. "Wheee," she clapped her hands together, "this is _fun!_"

As they were all occupied, Kussia walked in from the kitchen and frowned at them all, asking, "Where'd all the nachos go?"

Knuckles dropped the remote, which Tails gladly picked up and took the batteries out of it to use for his next 'great invention', and stared at the squirrel with wide eyes. "We're…we're out of nachos?"

"Well, we don't have any made," the squirrel rolled his eyes, seeing the panic in Knuckles' quivering lip from a mile away, "we'll just have to grab some chips and cheese and –"

"_Noooooooooooooooo! My __**nachooooooooooooooooooooos!**_" The echidna curled up into a ball and started to bawl, and Sonic growled in frustration and picked up the remote to turn up the volume, growling louder when it didn't work. "Tails! Dammit, stop stealing the remote's batteries!"

_Back to Shadow…_

He shook his head and shrugged. _Oh, well, they must be busy with something important._

Then, he heard the door open again, and he looked over at the screen as Periwinkle giggled and pointed, "Hey, look, it's Indiana Jones!" Sure enough, the outfit did resemble the famous human adventurer – with a large brown coat over a tan shirt and brown shorts, big brown boots, a chocolate-colored bandana around her neck and a leather belt, all she was missing was the whip and the hat. As Rouge annoyingly started to hum the Indiana Jones theme song, Shadowpaw rolled her eyes and looked down at it. "So, what," she remarked sarcastically, "should I go and start running away from that boulder now?"

"You know, Shadowpaw," Amy put her hands on her hips and frowned at her, "someone would think that you don't like these outfits."

"Okay, look," the feline sighed and crossed her arms, "I don't mean to be mean or whatever, but – _it's just not my style._ I mean, sure," she waved down at herself, "there are some pretty cool outfits here. In fact, I kinda liked the Summoner Yuna-wannabe one. But…"

Rouge, looking as if she understood her completely, finished for her, "But you don't like going up and down like some super model in a million different outfits."

"Exactly!" The feline smiled at her. "Man, I couldn't find the right way to say that, but you nailed it on the head there."

"It's alright," Periwinkle patted her on the back encouragingly, "we don't take it personal. We'll just have to figure out some other way for you to be a diva!"

Shadowpaw sweatdropped. "Right…umm, well, can I go now? I think my clothes are (finally) clean by now, so…"

"Sure!" At the pink hedgehog's response, Sly quickly shut down his strange camera-thing, pulled it from the door, bid Shadow 'good afternoon' and hurriedly walked off, which he took as a sign that it was time to get the hell out of there. Leaving the clothes beside the door (bastard fox, he could pick up his _own_ shit – the 'Ultimate Life Form' was _not_ going to follow him around until he finally took it), the hedgehog quickly ran off, making sure he didn't go fast enough that his jets activated, and got into his room, safe and sound.

_Meanwhile, back with Shadowpaw…_

She sighed as she walked down the hallway, finally back into her old clothes once more. She had (strangely) found them on the ground when she had walked out, and so she quickly changed from the Indiana Jones outfit and, after being convinced by the other girls to keep the red-enchantress one, walked out of there with the clothes in tow. Right now, however, her mind was on anything but the clothes in her hand, thinking back to that morning when she had tried to take a shower and barely succeeded.

_Why do I have to be afraid of something so __**stupid?**_ Even as she thought of it, shivers went up her spine and she held the clothes in her arms closer to her as if to warm herself up, and she scowled at her behavior and petty fear. _I mean, it's the same thing that falls from the sky, fills up the ocean, is thrown inside balloons, and sustains the lives of the entire planet. So, __**why**__ is it so freakin…__**wet?!**_

Shaking her head and deciding to get her mind off of it (like that would help), she instead looked down at the outfit in her arms and pondered if she should ever wear it. _Maybe for Halloween or something,_ she grinned at the idea, but then frowned and thought, _well, it wouldn't be nice to them, because they didn't _have _to go and give me some clothes._ _And neither did Rouge…_

Being reminded of that outfit made her blush darkly at the reminder of Sly's comment, and she scowled and muttered, "Dammit, I didn't _want _to be complimented! I was just waiting until my clothes were done!" Walking up to her door but not feeling like entering her room, she simply leaned on the wall next to the door and sighed, resting her chin on her chest as she closed her eyes to think. She _hadn't_ wanted anyone to look at her differently because of that outfit – in fact, she wanted someone to stop her and ask if she was feeling okay to be wearing that, _not_ for someone like…like _Sly_ to go ahead and _compliment_ her. _Dammit, Sly, you just ruin everything, don't you?_

Then again, now that she thought of it, why _didn't_ she want to hear nice things about her?

_I mean, it's only a small little comment…like, going up to Amy and saying, "Oh, did you do something new with your hair? I like it, it looks nice."_ Perhaps if it wasn't a _guy_ complimenting her on her looks, it would be easier to bear, but then thinking of a girl complimenting her reminded her of Rouge and her 'bigger' comment, making her face red all over again. _Argh, I'm just going to keep lighting up like Mars, aren't I?_ Since her anger couldn't flare and keep any other emotion covered, she was left lost and confused in the midst of other feelings she didn't even know existed in her mind. _Usually I'd just be angry and stomp off to cool down later, pushing aside other thoughts until I had gotten over it. Now, though, I have to deal with it, and I can't just yell and scream and shout until they leave me alone._

_Damn, being a teenager __**sucks.**_

Then, as she continued to think about how she couldn't stand being complimented, she heard a door open and picked up her head to look at Shadow stepping out of his room carefully, blinking in surprise as if he wasn't expecting her to be standing right there. She didn't say a word, unable to find a reason to talk to him, but he seemed to find one when his eyes looked down at the red outfit and, to her bewilderment, his face appeared to get a bit red itself as if remembering something embarrassing. Frowning at him in confusion, she didn't get a chance to ask him anything when he cleared his throat (as if to reassure himself) and stuttered, "Red's a good color."

She blinked, not knowing what the hell he was talking about, and he quickly went on, "And, if you wore it, you'd probably look pretty…cool." With that, he quickly turned and walked off, looking like some kind of nervous teenager, and it was with that comment of his that she looked down at the outfit and considered.

Yep, those were two of her worst fears: water, and a compliment from a guy.

_Cast Commentaries:_

DL: Okay, they aren't back yet, so I'll just tell you that the week will have a surprise ending! So, umm…yeah, bye, I guess?

(Silence…)

DL: Okay, that's creepy… OH! By the way, I will soon have a Question & Answer commentary coming up for some chapter, where you can ask any question you want and the cast will try to answer it as best as they can. And, if they can't, I will! So, ciao! (waves, then whispers) Read and review, please?


	17. Girls' Night Out

Chapter 17  
Girls' Night Out

DL: Err, yeah, they're (still) on coffee break, so, ya know…I'll just put up the sign myself. (puts sign up then waves) Toodles! (walks off)

Sign: Sonic and the rest belong to Sonic Team, not DL – she is only borrowing them for her plot and her pleasure. (and scribbled in the corner) She also doesn't own any movie, game, or song references.

_Day Four of bet…_

Shadowpaw looked around her room in boredom and sighed miserably. It was just another one of those days – you know, the ones where you wake up in the morning and go 'oh, shit, I feel bad vibes' and decide you want to go back to sleep, but you can't? Yeah, she was having one of _those_ days. She didn't feel like doing anything, really; she just wanted to crawl back into bed and go to a peaceful and blissful sleep. But, living under the same roof as Kussia (and Shadow), it would be impossible. So, she sat on her bed and stared at the wall, her eyelids drooped half-closed. Working on a painting for almost the entire night didn't help you sleep well either. She almost succeeded to fall over and go to sleep after a while of nothing when a knock on her door interrupted her dazed day-dream of tuna doing ballet. She immediately leapt awake and yelped, but a reassuring voice came from the other side of the door. "It's just me, Shadowpaw!"

Shadowpaw blinked and frowned. "Amy?" She got up from the bed reluctantly and walked over to her door to open it and see the pink hedgehog standing there with a cheerful smile on her face – she always woke up to a fairytale morning, with lovely birds chirping out of her window and squirrels smiling and giving her flowers or something like that – and she didn't experience the stress and horrors that anyone else (namely Shadowpaw) faced. Needless to say, the feline wasn't in a good mood that morning. Behind the hedgehog were Cream, Periwinkle, and Rouge, all smiling as well.

Shadowpaw rubbed an eye with a fist and asked sleepily, "What are you guys… (yawn) girls…up to?"

Cream skipped over and gave her a hug with a giggle. "We're here to bring you with us, Ms. Shadowpaw!"

Shadowpaw blinked in confusion, wondering what the hell the rabbit was talking about. It was still too early in the morning (eight in the morning, to be specific) to be talking to her about things like this. "…Wha? Where to?"

Amy smiled brightly. "Us girls decided it's time for a 'Girls' Night Out'!"

Shadowpaw tilted her head slightly as she tried to pry Cream off of her. "A _what?_"

"We're going to go party and have some fun!"

Shadowpaw stood there, not taking in a word she was saying. After all, it was one of those _days_ – she didn't _want_ to leave the house. It would take a _great_ deal of motivation, which she just didn't have.

Rouge added with a smirk, "We're going to a seafood restaurant first."

Shadowpaw perked up and grinned, her mind changed immediately. "Let's go!"

Cream grabbed her hand and dragged her down the hallway with super-rabbit strength (since I can't say superhuman, now, can I?), and the other three followed with smiles (or a smirk, in Rouge's case) on their faces. Shadow walked past them indifferently, but after a moment of thinking about that strange scene he stopped and looked back behind him. He heard Shadowpaw say in protest, "Cream, I'd like my arm back now!" Cream only giggled and replied, "Come on! Let's go!"

Shadow blinked and mumbled to himself, "Where are they going?"

_Later, after they ate at the restaurant…_

Shadowpaw grinned as they walked out of Kabuto's (A/N: That's actually a real restaurant, just not a seafood one), feeling rather satisfied after going and eating at the most wonderful place (in her opinion). "That was good! I think I ate enough for three of me!" She rubbed her stomach in demonstration, thoroughly glad that she had come along if only for the food.

Cream made a face as she looked behind her at the restaurant and mumbled, "I don't like sushi…"

Rouge looked around and asked, "So, where to next?"

Amy immediately said, "Well, the mall, of course!" And, lo and behold, they were near the very shopping mall that had brought them all to call Kussia's mansion their home. _What a coincidence,_ Shadowpaw made a face and looked at the hedgehog uneasily. "The mall?" The last thing she wanted to do was walk around after becoming a full feline, and there was sure to be a _lot_ of walking around in the mall.

Amy nodded. "Yep! We're going shopping!"

Cream clapped her hands and laughed. "Yeah! Let's buy toys!"

Rouge smiled slyly. "While we're at it, let's get some jewelry."

Periwinkle jumped up and down excitedly, exclaiming, "Shoes! We _must_ get shoes!"

Amy nodded. "And clothes, too!"

Shadowpaw gulped and looked at the huge mall. "How about we don't and say we did?"

Of course, not understanding why a female wouldn't want to shop, Amy laughed and grabbed her arm. "Oh, don't be silly, Shadowpaw!" She dragged her inside the mall and went straight to the first clothes store they saw, dragging the poor feline with her. As soon as they stepped foot into the store, Amy seemed to zoom around almost as fast as Sonic and was soon back with a huge stack of things she wanted Shadowpaw to try on. Shadowpaw was shoved into a changing stall and had the door slammed behind her, leaving no room for arguments.

Getting angry with all of this 'outfit runway-thingy' business, Shadowpaw stared at the clothes she was given and wished she had refused to come along with them. She reluctantly picked up one of the shirts and sighed. When she put it back and picked up another shirt, though, something fell out of the pile that caught her eye. She knelt down and grabbed something black. _What…she actually picked something _not _pink?! Ohmigosh, who is she and what has she done with the real Amy?_ Then, realizing what she had just said, she slapped her forehead and grumbled, "They're contagious, I swear…"

She tried on another shirt (that wasn't pink), and was shocked again as she looked at the guy-styled tank-top she was given by the hedgehog. It was amazing how Amy had found such good clothes (that she liked) and actually wanted her to try them on. She started to turn around to see how it looked from each side, and by the time she came out of the stall she was grinning. Damn, she looked good, alright!

Amy saw her smiling and put on a grin herself. "So, did you like some of the outfits?" She waited for a response, her eyes sparkling with hope.

Shadowpaw chuckled and rubbed the back of her neck nervously, not wanting to disappoint her but also not wanting to seem obsessed like they were. "You know, I've never actually thought I might look _that_ good in clothes like these."

Amy laughed. "Well, you won't know until you try!"

Later, after Amy was finally dragged out of the clothes store by Cream and Rouge, they went to a jewelry store (Rouge's request, of course). Shadowpaw stared at the rings and necklaces in awe, her eyes dazzled by the beautiful gold and silver. Rouge showed Shadowpaw the little signs that said 'Four Karat' or something like that and explained to her basically everything about jewelry.

Shadowpaw actually found a necklace she liked. It was gold with rubies adorning it like flowers, and when she asked about the price Rouge smiled and said it was alright. She saw the bat slip a piece of paper to the clerk behind the counter as she whispered something in his ear. He looked away as if he was really embarrassed and quickly shuffled over to get the necklace. When Rouge looked over towards her she just winked and smiled as if she was thinking of something extremely funny.

After that, Cream begged them to get something to eat because 'her tummy was gonna be really, really sad' if they didn't. They stopped at an ice cream parlor and ordered some, and they sat at the food court afterwards, talking about things that a normal posse of girls would (Shadowpaw didn't participate in this, but instead listened to them amusingly as she licked her chocolate ice cream). Cream wanted to save some for later to give to Cheese, who she had left with Tails to baby-sit, but Amy convinced her Chao couldn't eat ice cream and it would melt anyways, and eventually she threw away what was left of the melted mess and continue with them to some shoe stores for Periwinkle. Afterwards, they sat down on some benches to relax, and Shadowpaw stretched and sighed. "Man, what a blast!"

Amy nodded. "This has been fun! We've been almost all over the mall and bought lots of things."

Cream squealed and leapt off the bench and ran over to a store with a huge teddy bear over the door. They quickly ran after her (that squeal almost sounded like a wounded animal, for crying out loud!) only to find her looking through all of the toys. She couldn't decide on which one to pick, but eventually she bought a big purple hippo that squeaked when you squeezed it. Cream hugged it, and it gave a little 'weeeek' in return.

Finally, they realized they had to go home as they couldn't carry anymore things. They grudgingly left the mall (well, Shadowpaw was tired so she had a quicker pace then the others) and arrived home talking about the day. It was only two in the afternoon when they came home, but it had seemed like a long time to them. As they walked in the door, Shadow looked up from the couch and asked curiously, "Where have you guys been?"

Shadowpaw looked at him and smirked. She glanced at Amy and winked before walking over to Shadow. "Oh, we were just out getting a few things. Oh," she suddenly handed him all of her bags. "Be a dear and carry these to my room. And don't forget Amy's bags and Cream's teddy…hippo." She handed him each thing in turn. As an afterthought, she added, "Rouge wouldn't let you touch her jewels; she'd go ballistic." She shooed him out of the room. "Hurry along now!"

She clapped her hands (in the wiping motion) and nodded. "There. Now we don't have to work."

Amy smiled. "Nice job, Shadowpaw!"

Rouge nodded. "That's a way to put a man to good use."

Cream looked around the room. "Where's Tails and Cheese?"

Shadowpaw crossed her arms and mumbled, mostly to herself, "And Feather, for that matter…"

Suddenly, they heard a bunch of banging coming from the hall, and they all looked around a corner to see Tails falling down the stairs with Feather chomped on his tail and Cheese hanging onto his face. He rolled and hit a wall, and the two Chao jumped off and did something that looked like a high-five. They noticed them, though, and floated immediately to Shadowpaw and Cream. Feather hugged Shadowpaw and tried to look innocent as Cheese landed on Cream's head and stared at the hippo.

Tails looked up at them, realizing they were there, and instantly got up and brushed himself off. He looked at Feather hugging Shadowpaw, and the little Chao stuck out his tongue and made a rude noise. Shadowpaw shook her finger and tapped Feather on the head. "Don't do that, Feather! Be nice to Tails!"

Feather smiled and giggled mischievously. "Okay!"

Shadowpaw sighed. "You're hopeless…"

Cream smiled and rubbed Cheese and Feather on their heads, and they both sighed blissfully and had a dreamy look on their faces. Shadowpaw scowled at Feather and shook her head at him. "Spoiled…" She walked off towards her room, muttering something about a leash and proper training. She was about to pick up her arm to turn the knob when she realized it was already open. She started to worry, but then she remembered Shadow with the bags. Shadowpaw blinked, then walked in. Her bags were sitting on the bed, all nice and neat. Shadowpaw blinked again in surprise. "Wow…I never thought he would actually _do_ it…"

"And don't expect me to next time."

Shadowpaw jumped and whirled around to see Shadow leaning on the wall behind her. He had been hiding behind the door the whole time.

Shadowpaw shook off the astonishment and cleared her throat, asking, "Why are you still in here?"

Shadow stood up straight and tapped the door with his foot so it swung away from him until it was only an inch open. "First, I'd like to know where you went that you had to hurry off to. And why did _I _have to carry the groceries?"

Shadowpaw crossed her arms and glared at him. "First of all, those aren't groceries. Second, I had to go find Feather, so someone needed to put my stuff in my room, and you were the first person we saw coming back. Third, I was not rushing to get there! It was their plan in the first place."

Shadow narrowed his eyes. "Right."

Shadowpaw glared at him. "Yes, _right_. I was being dragged by Cream, anyway!"

"She's younger than Tails."

"She has a firm 'mommy' grip. You know, whenever the kids are excited and squeeze the life out of mom trying to tell them why?"

Shadow stared at her. She blinked. "What? Her grip _is_ strong."

_It seems she knows more about kids then I will _ever _know. _Shadow rolled his eyes and glanced at the bags. "So what's in there? 'Chao Food'?"

Shadowpaw scoffed. "No, it's stuff."

Shadow raised an eyebrow at the way she said it. "What kind of stuff?"

Kussia, who happened to be walking down the hallway and past their door, stopped and listened to the sound of people arguing. _Must be Shadowpaw and Shadow…_ After all, if it were Knuckles and Rouge, they would have been yelling from the start, and using that simple method of elimination (plus the fact that it came from Shadowpaw's room) he put his ear up to the door and listened to them talk.

"You know…stuff."

"No, I don't know."

"You know, with the clothes and the…stuff."

"May I see this 'stuff' of yours?"

"Umm, no…"

"Why not?"

"Because, I, uhh…I…can't."

"Why?"

"Because, I'm…physically unable to open the bag."

"Alright, you won't have to worry about it; I'll open it _for_ you."

"No! Hey, stay out of my – Shadow!" Kussia heard someone jumping up and down. "Don't – stay _out_ of there!"

"_Don't?_ Okay."

"No, what I mean was – ugh, _please _put that down?"

"I never would have thought of you as someone to go for pink."

"That's not mine! I-It's Amy's!"

"How'd it get in here, then?"

A pause. "It…fell in!"

"And what about this?"

"…Ah! Leave that necklace alone!"

"You like flowers?"

"Err, but – _Shadow!_"

"And what's this toy doing in here? Is this for your 'inner child'?"

"That's Feather's toy! Give it back!"

"That's not being very nice."

"_Please _give it back."

"That's better."

"Oh, Shad – don't _throw_ it! It could get dirty! Do you want Feather to play with a _dirty_ toy?"

After a while of silence, Kussia covered his mouth so he couldn't possibly be heard snickering as he peeked in the room and saw the feline's red face before she quickly turned around so her back was facing Shadow and she stuttered, "J-Just, please, I-I can do the rest myself!"

"Are you sure?" Shadow was grinning, rather enjoying this. "I wouldn't want the _lady_ to hurt herself."

"I-I'm fine!" She had her fists clenched as if so she wouldn't burst into a shouting fit, and the squirrel could see her body slightly shaking. The hedgehog stepped forward and asked, "Are you cold? You're shivering as if you're freezing."

"I'm not –" She turned around only to be face-to-face with him, or at least as close as possible to that with her being three inches shorter than him. She stopped in her protesting for a moment, as if her train of thought had just been thrown off of its tracks and crashed and burned, before she started up again shakily, "I-I'm n-not cold! I-I'm f-fine!"

"Are you sure?" He was grinning like there was no tomorrow, remembering something she had said before making the bet. "If I had a coat on, I'd offer it to you, but –" He half-shrugged, still grinning as he watched her face flush heavily at the reminder of what she had told him about polite people, and he watched with amusement as she her fists shook slightly while she muttered, "If _you_ had a coat on, I'd think the world was going to end."

He raised an eyebrow at her and asked, "Why's that?" He watched her as she turned to retreat to her bed, but he stayed in his spot as he crossed his arms, expecting a response. After a moment, she looked up at the ceiling and told him, "W-well, you only wear gloves and shoes, _anyways,_ so…so it'd be _weird _if you suddenly wore a coat. A cape, maybe, but," she looked down at her feet hanging off of the edge of the bed and mumbled, "not a coat."

"Oh," he stated as he went to sit beside her to build the tension up again, "so, what you're saying is…I look better without clothes?"

Her face couldn't have gotten any redder, and Kussia was surprised her bottom jaw didn't just fall off with all of that gaping she did at him. After a moment of processing what that fully meant, she shook her head and stammered, "No, what – I – that wasn't – I didn't –"

"Well, it would make sense, wouldn't it?" Shadow relieved her of his gaze as he went to stare at the ceiling thoughtfully. "_Sonic_ doesn't wear clothes, and he has Amy following him everywhere." Despite how he hated to be compared to his rival, it was the first thing that came to mind and he found it was a sound statement.

"That's not why she follows him!" Shadowpaw, although red, seemed to kind of want to defend her friend, but she gulped and looked like she regretted saying anything as his gaze went back to her, one of his eyebrows raised in challenge. After a moment of silence between them, the feline stuttered, "I mean, he saved her and then she kind of idolized him and – and now she wants to marry him like some do with celebrities or something." She then rolled her eyes at the idea, but when he grinned at her with a look she didn't like she frowned and asked cautiously, "…What? What are you smiling about?"

"Celebrity, huh?"

"Well…" After a moment of thinking, she realized that Shadow _was_ a celebrity in a sense, and she mentally cursed herself as she tried to find a way out of this in one piece. "Well, you know, like – like Brad Pitt and Avril Lavigne." She nearly smirked at the way his smile dropped at that statement – obviously he didn't want to be compared to those people. She then finished with confidence, "I mean, _everyone's_ probably had one of those 'celebrity crushes' when they were little."

"Oh, really?" He looked at her curiously as she nodded, so sure of herself. "…Have _you_ had one?"

"…Err…" She frowned, trying to think back to her childhood but not remembering anything of the like happening. "…Actually, no. I mean, I thought that that Rodriguez kid or whatever from Sandlot – the first one, mind you – was pretty cool, but…" She shook her head, now completely positive. "Nope, never had one!"

"Hmm…" Shadow thought for a while, as if wondering about something, before he shook his head when she asked 'what?' and told her, "Nothing. Now," he grinned at her, something that made her gulp quietly to his satisfaction, "how are you?"

_Oh, God, not _this_ again._ Shadowpaw felt like she had had enough, and she sighed and fell backwards to lay on her bed while saying, "Tired." And, it was true – between last night and today, she felt like taking a nap right about now (but not with him in the room, of course).

"Been working on the painting?" She glanced at him in surprise, with a look that clearly asked 'how'd-you-know-you-nosy-bastard', and he grinned and told her, "I could hear you cursing to yourself all night and the clattering of some poor pencils hitting the wall between our rooms. It isn't hard to figure out that you're having trouble."

_Ah, damn, I forgot he's right next door._ She grimaced at the ceiling before she was surprised to hear him offer, "You know, if you needed help, you could have _asked._"

She sat up into a sitting position and said incredibly, "You draw?" Not that she thought he was bad at it or anything, but she didn't know that he could.

"Well, not really, but," he gave her a cocky grin, "how hard could it be? After all, I _am_ the subject of interest here."

"Err, yeah," she scratched her nose nervously and avoided his gaze as she glanced at the floor, "I forgot about that." Then, after an awkward moment, she looked up and smirked. "You really think it's _that_ easy?" When he shrugged, she thought, _of course, he might think that whatever he does is perfect, being the 'Ultimate Life-Form' and all,_ and then she got up from the bed and put her hands on her hips as she grinned at him determinedly. "Well, let's get to it!"

He got up with a smirk, saying 'alright' and watching as she started to get the stuff that she used (or tried to, at least) last night – pencils, erasers, paints, and other such things – before stepping in and taking a stray piece of paper to sketch on. He stuck it to the wall with a bright red tack and looked at it for a moment, thinking about what he wanted to draw first before nodding to himself and picking up a pencil to start sketching. The feline crossed her arms and watched him in interest, examining as did various strokes with his arm and did some detailing here and there. She got red in the face with embarrassment when he stepped away with a grin and she saw a portrait of her shouting at him, mouth opened in a snarl that she knew that she was probably famous for by now.

She gulped and mumbled, "Umm, good job…" Then, after looking at it some more, she frowned and stepped forward, taking the pencil from Shadow to start coloring in her black fur, feeling a bit unnerved by the plain outline of her face. After she had gotten it so that it didn't bug her anymore, she found that he took it from her to add something to it, and she smiled a bit in lighthearted humor as she noticed that he put one of those anime vein marks that showed obvious anger on the picture, and she laughed a little and said, "Give me that, it's missing something!"

He grinned as she took the pencil again to do something quickly, and she laughed when she pulled away and said, "Tada! What is an angry picture without the classic flaming background?" It was a bit hastily drawn in her opinion, but she was having fun and didn't want to be a perfectionist at the moment.

"Oh, what about the sharp fangs?" He went to go probably put monster teeth on her (make her look like Godzilla or something) when she laughed and took the pencil back from him and tried to scribble something in the corner. He pulled her away as she fell into a state of giggles (or, at least, snickers) and frowned when he saw a half-drawn stick-Shadow being squished by her hand. He then went and scribbled it out as she tried to pull him back, but she could only beat on his back as he kept her from seeing and shout, "Hey! I wanna see what you're doing!"

She finally pushed him out of the way (a little roughly, but they forgot politeness for fun) and pouted as she noticed he had changed the stick-Shadow to a stick-dude screaming, "IT'S GODZILLA!!" She wanted to laugh at it, but than it would show that it was funny that he was making fun of her, and instead she ripped the picture from the wall and crumpled it up, grumbling, "Alright, new picture."

As she tossed it behind her, Shadow caught it and mocked her pouting, saying, "What if I wanted to keep that?" She just rolled her eyes – which he couldn't see – as she put up a new piece of paper, and she grinned as she started to draw herself with a kick-ass cape and the whole shebang. He looked over her shoulder (since he was tall enough to do that, dammit!) and grinned, teasing, "Is that 'Superpaw' or something?" She turned and stuck her tongue out at him, but he grabbed it as she squeaked in surprise before scowling and pulling away from him to turn back to the picture and continue drawing, grumbling under her breath as she did so.

Shadow continued to grin at her obvious irritation and asked, "Hey, do _I_ get a superhero-outfit?" He just wanted to annoy her, but when she suddenly turned around with that grin on her face, he wasn't so sure he wanted to find out.

"Oh, yes!" She was too happy, it shouldn't have been healthy, and she turned back to the paper to start drawing in the extra space that was left. Every time he'd move to see what she was drawing, she'd get in front of him, and he growled and mumbled, "What are you _doing?_" She snickered a little, which finally made him get too curious, and he grabbed her shoulders and turned her around, asking her as she stood in shock, "_What are you drawing?!_"

After a moment of her blinking and him blinking back, a grin slowly crept onto her face as she pointed behind her at the picture, and his gaze slowly went past her shoulder to glower at the picture. Beside 'Superpaw' stood 'The Ultimate Life-Form', which was Shadow with what looked like a rip-off of Superman's outfit on except not yet colored, and without the awesome cape. As he imagined ripping that picture up, her shoulders shook in contained laughter as she barely choked out, "You didn't give me time to give you your logo – it was a 'U' made by the 'L' and 'F' being combined!"

"Alright, _that's_ it," he grumbled before picking her up and depositing her behind him so he could turn to the picture and fix what terror she had wrought, but she gasped and told him, "No, don't! I like that picture!" She whined as she tried to reach past him to the picture, but he held her back by pushing her away with his palm on her forehead while he drew with his free hand. After a while of her struggling, she suddenly stopped to his amazement, and he looked over his shoulder to see her staring at the pencil in his hand. After a moment, he asked her, "What? What are you staring at?"

"…Oh, umm," she looked down at the ground, "I just noticed that…you're left-handed."

"Hm? Oh," he looked at his left hand holding the pencil, and then shrugged and said, "yeah. So?"

"Well…" She hesitated, as if thinking that now it sounded stupid, but at his encouraging she continued, "Well, people who are very artistic are normally left-handed."

"Really?" Now, he hadn't known that. He looked at his hand again, and he grinned and said, "Perhaps I should become an artist?"

"Oh, no, not _those_ skills," she grinned and took the pencil away before he could stop her, and then when he looked at her with a face that said 'what-I-can't-draw-good', she rolled her eyes and said, "No, you draw _fine._ But," she gestured at said picture, "_this_ wouldn't get you zilch unless you were into comic book characters."

He crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, mumbling, "As if _you_ are the master of arts or anything…" She punched his arm (playfully), but he just grinned as he rubbed the spot that would probably bruise one day from all of the punching before saying, "Alright then, I'll become a poet."

"Oh, God," she threw her hands up in the air, "I can only imagine _your_ poetry." She then turned to him and pretended to look all sad, making him raise an eyebrow until she started dramatically, "Oh, the world! It is so cruel! How it pains me so to live!" She put a hand to her chest in demonstration of the heartache the world caused, only to grin at him as he scowled at her and turned away looking none too happy about her impersonation. "I mean, I'd probably become emo after reading them!"

"I'm not emo," he grumbled under his breath, and remembering something from the previous days, she smirked before sobering her expression to look sad as she whined, "Aww, is poor wittle Shadz feeling sad 'cause I said mean things? I'm sowwy," she gave him a hug and smirked to herself when he squirmed a bit, "I won't say anyting like dat again."

"I'm sure you will," he muttered, "and stop it with the weird accent, it's creeping me out. And let go of me!"

"Is it _bothering_ you, Shadz?"

"Yes – _don't call me that!_"

"Aww, but I think it's an adorable nickname!" She laughed as she let go of him to instead twirl in circles around the room, only stopping when she got dizzy and smacked into the bed with an 'oop!' before she fell face-first into the soft blanket as she heard 'Shadz' sigh in hidden frustration. It seemed that, when one person was happy during the bet, the other was miserable.

"So, what can I call _you?_ It's not fair that _you_ can call me a nickname."

She rolled onto her back and grinned, saying, "You can call me 'the Magnificent and Magical Queen Shadowpaw of the Squirrel's Mansion'!" She laughed as she was sure he was rolling his eyes, and then she suggested, "Okay, okay, that's a bit long…how about just 'the Magnificent Shadowpaw'? It's short, sweet, and to the point."

"How about just 'the Stubborn Feline? It's at least true." She sat up to glare at him as he grinned mischievously at her, and then it became a contest of – polite – name-calling.

"Well, I guess I'll call you 'the Ultimate Rodent-Form' – I mean, you _are_ better than Sonic."

"Thank you for the compliment, 'Almighty Royal Cat'."

"No problem, 'the Arrogant and Proud 'Hog'."

This went on for quite a bit without ever escalating into total rudeness – somehow – before finally Shadowpaw threw her hands up into the air and exclaimed, "Okay, how about a truce – I call you 'Shadz', and you call me 'Pawz' or something. Alright?"

He smirked and nodded. "Alright, 'Pawz'."

She mentally rolled her eyes before jumping from the bed to walk over to him, poking his shoulder as she told him, "Hey, we're both doing pretty good on the bet. To tell you the truth, I didn't think you'd make it this far."

"The same to you," he nodded, and suddenly she felt a bit fearful that he might actually win the bet and force her to wear a dress – after all, he was a bit better at controlling his temper than her, or at least on the subjects that really annoyed her, and being a guy he wasn't as emotional or easy to tick off as she was. But then, her competitive nature and her determination fought that fear away, and she crossed her arms and said to him, "Well, I'll keep it up until I win! And you'll definitely lose, for sure!"

"Well, what will happen if we _both_ win?"

She stopped, for she hadn't really thought of that – she had just assumed that one of them would break, but you know what they say about 'assuming'… She shrugged and said, "I dunno, I guess we'll just call it a draw or something?"

"Yes. Although, I doubt that you'll last for the rest of the week." Shadow grinned at her glare, glad she couldn't get too angry because she couldn't hit him. "There's only three more days, but will you make it?"

"Of course, I'll make it!" She grinned, not allowing herself to doubt herself for a second more. "And you'll get to be good buddies with Sly!"

"Or, _you'll_ get to see what's so appealing to women about dresses," he countered as she rolled her eyes before he even finished, and he watched as she went back to flop down on her bed as he thought, _seriously, I doubt that she'll beat me. But, just in case, I'll have to work harder to make her break and be more cautious of her._

Unknowingly, Shadowpaw was thinking around the same lines. _I can't let him win! There's gotta be something I can use to get him angry…_ She pondered in the silence, thinking as hard as she could.

_Something…_

_Cast Commentaries:_

DL: Err…yeah, this is a very long coffee break. But, don't fear! (raises a finger in determination) They will return!

(Silence…)

DL: (sweatdrops) …Eventually. (sighs) In the meantime, get to reviewing and put in some of those questions you want answered! We'll answer them as best as we can without giving too much away, but the more you ask, the more you know! So, get to it and review! THE FATE OF THE WORLD RESTS IN YOUR HANDS!!

(Crickets chirping…)

DL: Well, maybe not, but still! Do you wanna take that chance?!


	18. Home

**Chapter 18**

**Home**

DL: Sorry, sorry, sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to take so long, but I had the chapter on another computer that refuses to charge, so I had to get the mojo running so I could write a new one! TTmTT Please forgive me! *cries*

Shadowpaw: Geez, baby.

DL: *sniffs* Oh, yeah, and the cast came back from that coffee break. It seems that Cream had broken all of the coffeemakers again. So, umm, anyways, here's the replacement chapter I've written! Again, sorry for the long wait! Today's chapter has to deal with home and friendship, and here's a random quote that seems to fit it quite nicely:

"Nothing but heaven itself is better than a friend who is really a friend."  
_~Plautus_

(Note: It's been a while since I've written for this story, so I struggled to get into the groove and wrote less than usual. I'll make up for it, though!)

* * *

_Afternoon of Day Four of the bet . . ._

"Shadowpaw!"

The feline sighed at the gray squirrel's voice before asking, "Yeah?" When she got no response, she rolled her eyes to herself at how annoying he was before walking out to see what it was he wanted, finding him standing somewhere down the hall. She stood beside him, looking at his face expectantly, before getting irritated that he wasn't paying attention to her and asking, "_Yes?_" She wanted to get whatever he had planned over with so she could go back to relaxing in her room.

When she still didn't get a response from him, she mentally scowled at him before deciding to see what he was staring at so intently. It was then that she realized why he was standing there so quietly–there was a random and rather big hole in the wall on the fourth floor, leaving the house open to the elements and the (sadly) big chance that someone would be stupid enough to walk through it. As her jaw dropped and she tried to figure out what had happened, Knuckles stuck his head into the house as he clung to the side and told them, "Yeah, uhh, I'll fix it!"

"No you won't," Kussia told him, and as the other two looked at him in confusion he looked expectantly at his watch and counted, "Three, two, one . . ."

Suddenly, concrete seemed to be _growing_ over the hole, and Knuckles was so surprised he let go of the side as it covered where he had punched through the wall. As the two inside heard a dull _thud_, only one of them was surprised, as the owner of the house simply walked off, whistling a jolly tune. Shadowpaw walked over and knocked on the place the hole had been, stunned to see that it was as if it was never there, and then ran after him (or was it away from the wall?) to ask what it was he had wanted earlier. She didn't even bother asking about the wall, because either she wouldn't get an answer or it would hurt her brain.

"Oh," he snapped his fingers as if just remembering what he had originally called her out for. "I need you, Shadow and Sly to go do something for me."

"What?" The feline frowned at the idea of Shadow and Sly being together for any period of time, and she told him that as well. "Are you really sure that's a good idea?"

"Hey, you're gonna be there, too. You can keep them out of trouble, I'm sure."

She gulped. "Yeah . . . sure."

He nodded in agreement and then went on with his explanation. "Well, I need you guys to go out and fix that board you and Shadow put up a long time ago."

"The . . . one that tells people that they can find a place to live here?"

"Yeah, that one. I want to change some technicalities on it." He handed her a list of things he needed fixed, and as she looked over it he told her, "Now go get the other two, and hurry, because every second is a second where people are misled! Oh, the agony!" She rolled her eyes as he walked off, repeating "the agony" over and over again for dramatic effect, before turning back around and going over to Shadow's room. Knocking on the door while keeping her eyes on the list, she listened for the door to open and told the hedgehog, "We've got work to do."

". . . Why?" He frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, stating without words that he didn't want to do anything.

She sighed and explained what Kussia had told them to do. "And we have to get Sly to come with us, too," she added at the end, almost grinning at the way he groaned in reluctance and his fist clenched with irritation. "Hey, it wasn't my idea, it was his."

"Yes, I figured that." He gritted his teeth. "Can't we just go do it ourselves? We really, really don't need his help."

"Now, that's not very nice," she teased, and as he gave her his "don't-mess-with-me-I'm-pissed" look she went on, "Besides, Kussia knows everything going on in his house, remember? He'll know if we didn't take him." When he grudgingly agreed to that, she smiled and said, "Great! Let's go, then!"

* * *

"Phew!" The feline wiped her forehead in relief, murmuring, "We're finally done!"

Everyone was hot and sweaty and ready to rest, and with the board fixed and up-to-date they were allowed to go do whatever they wanted before they returned to the mansion. Since they were all dehydrated, Sly convinced them to stop at a local café to get some ice-cold coffee, although Shadow got a cup of water instead (here Shadowpaw found out he didn't like coffee). As they sat and snacked at a booth and the sky began to darken outside, Sly glanced around the place and grinned. "Look at all of the beautiful women here!"

"Yeah, whatever," Shadowpaw mumbled as she tried to finish a number-puzzle-game she had found on the table called Sudoku, completely ignoring what was going on around her as she frowned at the boxes. Shadow, however, was paying attention, and he narrowed his eyes as the fox grinned at some of the people there. Getting annoyed because of their perverted companion, he tried to distract him by asking him about what he did normally around the mansion.

"Well, I normally bother Kussia," he grinned, "but sometimes I hang out with the more _lovely_ people in the mansion. Like Periwinkle!"

"The crazy girl that's after Kussia?" Shadow frowned. _He doesn't let anything stop him, does he?_

"Oh, yeah, she's fun to hang out with. And surprisingly, we both like the same soaps!" At the hedgehog's confused look, he explained, "Soaps. As in soap operas."

With a nod showing he understood, Shadow's eyes wandered around the café in boredom. Now that he had gotten Sly to stop staring at girls, he was bored, and he needed something to do. He considered bothering Shadowpaw but, remembering the bet and the consequences if he lost, he dropped the idea. When the fox continued talking, however, he slowly began to wish he had just left him alone.

"So, buddy," he put his elbows on the table and clasped his hands together, asking in interest, "how about you?" When Shadow remained silent, he prodded him with his finger. "Huh? What do _you_ do?"

If Shadow wasn't so stubborn on winning that bet, he would have snapped the fox's finger in half.

"Alright, fine. Don't talk." Sly watched him for a while, examining the thin line of his mouth before grinning and continuing on. "Well, I _do_ know that you hang out with Shadowpaw a lot. You guys are like buddies or something."

"Buddies?" The feline's attention was won over at the mentioning of her name, and she gave a small snort as she set the puzzle aside. "No offense, but we argue constantly and are at each other's throats twenty-four-seven. Do buddies do that normally?"

"No," he admitted, but then went on to point out, "but you guys have been much calmer lately! It's like you're trying to be nicer than usual or something."

"Don't get used to it," she muttered, swirling the coffee around in her half-empty cup.

"_So,_" he turned to the hedgehog that had _still_ refused to talk, "does that mean you guys are buddies now?" Shadowpaw was going to respond, but the look in Sly's eyes made her nervous and then curious about what he wanted Shadow to respond for. After all, this was the hedgehog she had grown to be angry at almost all of her stay at the mansion. Why would they suddenly be "buddies" now? Rolling her eyes at the crazy fox, she took a sip from her coffee before putting it down and getting ready to go back to her puzzle.

"I suppose."

She nearly knocked her cup to the floor at his simple response, and she eyed him curiously as the fox grinned. "What?" She was sure she hadn't heard him right.

Shadow turned his maroon gaze from some point in the distance to her, and she was a bit nervous under his scrutiny as if she was an experiment he was fascinated to watch go wrong. _Or maybe I'm just looking into this a bit too deeply._ Mentally shaking her head at her foolishness, she stared at him steadily, refusing to back down simply because the situation was awkward. She had almost forgotten that he was supposed to answer her, and she almost jumped when he finally did. "We're allies, of sorts." He then returned his eyes to that point again, leaving her confused and even more curious as to where this sudden change in heart came from.

_Actually,_ she realized, _a _lot_ of things have changed since taking up this stupid bet. I mean, without me being able to just yell and get out of awkward situations with my fury, I've had to actually think things through._ She could just imagine Kussia's voice in her head now, mocking her mental capacity with a "you can _think?_" or something. Returning her focus to her epiphany, she pondered the clothes she had received, the fun she had, and all that had happened the previous three days of the bet. _I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually pretty glad I made it. And it'll be even better when I win!_ She grinned triumphantly at the thought, already planning her victory dance around the poor hedgehog.

Sly grew curious at her expression and questioned, "What are you smiling about?"

She gave a small, delighted hum before telling him, "Oh, nothing! Just . . . thinking about home."

* * *

_Evening . . ._

_Home._

She hadn't noticed what she had said until long after they had gotten home that day, and she lay on her bed staring up at the ceiling pondering the statement.

_Home._

She hadn't even thought about it at the time, the word just slipping effortlessly off of her tongue. And now she was looking at it like it was an alien from another planet plopped down in front of her, instead of a word. She felt ridiculous, analyzing a simple mistake, but that only made her think some more.

_Mistake?_ _Was_ it a mistake? She would never have used the word had she been thinking more, probably replacing it with something like "a joke" or "a book" that wouldn't be as personal. But "home" just . . . seemed to bring in a whole new meaning. "Home is where the heart is," "there's no place like home," "a good home must be made, not bought"–there were so many things associated with that word. She felt she had used it incorrectly because she didn't know exactly _what_ she meant when she used it. The most logical and obvious explanation would be Kussia's mansion, but would that count as her home? She lived there, yes, but . . .

"Mom?"

She sat up quickly as her Chao finally spoke up from the foot of the bed. He had been sitting there watching her since she had got home, occasionally entertaining himself by making faces or playing counting games. His little ears twitched with curiosity, and he flew over to sit in her lap and look up with big, wide eyes.

"Are you alright?"

She smiled and rubbed the top of his head, giving a reassuring nod to the little tyke. "Yeah, brat, I'm fine." She laughed at his scowl before watching him flutter over to her bookshelf, studying the spines of the novels she had recently acquired (with a little help from Kussia's money) with such enthusiasm that his eyes sparkled. Using one of his tiny arms he wiggled a book out from among its brethren and struggled to lift it, eventually making his way to the bed and flopping down beside it, panting heavily. Picking it up and finding it was a collection of poetry, she looked at his expectant face and asked, "What, do you want me to read some?"

"Would you?" His face was so desperate and adorable that she would have never have been able to say no.

"Oh, alright." Rolling her eyes at his happy giggle as he leapt into her lap, she flipped it open and turned the pages over, skimming lines upon lines of the poems before finding one she liked and smiling. "Ooh, this one's a good one.

""_The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea / In a beautiful pea-green boat: / They took some honey, / and plenty of money / Wrapped up in a five-pound note."_" There was a picture of the owl and feline sitting on the boat, with the former holding a guitar with experienced fingers and the latter watchfully holding a jug of honey. Both looked to be content in their voyage over the calm waters of the sea, and the next picture depicted the owl singing to his "love" his highest praises. "_"The Owl looked up to the stars above, / And sang to a small guitar, / "O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love, / What a beautiful Pussy you are, / You are, / You are! / What a beautiful Pussy you are!""_" He had a smile on his face that showed faithfulness and passion that even made _her_ envious of the fictional cat.

Feather's ears twitched as he shifted in her lap, and the question he asked was anticipated as he pointed at the picture. "He's singing to his guitar?"

"No, he's singing to the cat. He used "guitar" to fit the rhyme." After getting him to settle down again, she continued. This picture showed the snow white feline to be speaking, her expression dreamy and loving as she stared at the owl. "_"Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl, / How charmingly sweet you sing! / Oh! let us be married; / too long we have tarried: / But what shall we do for a ring?""_" Shadowpaw was a bit curious as well, considering they only had some cash and a jug of honey.

"Buy one, duh!"

"Shh. _"They sailed away, for a year and a day, / To the land where the bong-tree grows; / And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood, / With a ring at the end of his nose, / His nose, / His nose, / With a ring at the end of his nose."_" Said swine was leaning against a tree, seeming as laidback as Sly (without the perverted drive of the fox's, of course) as he looked at the unique couple approaching him.

The next picture showed the owl in a pose of pleading and hope at the sight of the ring around the pig's nose. "_""Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling / Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will." / So they took it away, and were married next day / By the Turkey who lives on the hill."_" An extravagant wedding took place on this page, showing the bride and groom in their proper attire in the pose where you can tell they were about to kiss. She quickly dismissed it to go on, knowing Feather wouldn't like to dwell on the "mush-gushy" part.

""_They dined on mince and slices of quince, / Which they ate with a runcible spoon; / And hand in hand on the edge of the sand / They danced by the light of the moon, / The moon, / The moon, / They danced by the light of the moon."_"

Shadowpaw stared at the picture of the happy couple for a while, running across the sand with their fingers intertwined and satisfied smiles on their faces. Her Chao copied her, squinting and tilting his head to try to find out what it was that fascinated her mother in the book. Seeing the name "Edward Lear" but being unable to read and understand it, he ventured to say, "And they lived happily ever after?"

"Yes, they did." Giving him a noogie and grinning at his protests, she motioned to the bed and asked him, "Shouldn't you be sleeping or something?"

Feather blanked at the suggestion. "Uhh . . ." Pouting when she pushed him over to a pillow, he reluctantly snuggled under the blanket and tried to stifle his yawn. When she got up and walked to her door, though, he spoke up with curiosity that could rival hers. "Mom, where're you going?"

"Just for some milk, I'll be right back." Smiling as he went back to huddle under the sheets with a sour expression, Shadowpaw tiptoed down the hall in order to keep her presence hidden (although why she wasn't sure). Passing the living room where a few of the mansion's residents were watching some movie, she snuck into the kitchen and glided over to the fridge, her footsteps soft and muffled because of her socks. Opening it and wincing at the glaring light inside, she plucked the carton from the door and closed it to grab a glass from the cabinet.

"Late night drink?"

She nearly jumped out of her skin and dropped the milk as she twisted around to see the black hedgehog of all people standing there. A bit disturbed that she hadn't noticed or heard him enter, she nodded politely before returning to her task, barely aware of him going to get something out of the refrigerator as well. Trying to ignore him as she quickly guzzled down her drink, she kept her eyes away from him as her thoughts returned to her previous meditation. He didn't seem to want to let her, though, as after he grabbed his own glass (she found it a strange sight, seeing Shadow holding the carton of orange juice) he turned to her and proceeded to start a conversation.

"So, what's new?"

She kept her expression neutral, although in all reality she wanted to snap back with a "none of our business". "Nothing much. And you?" It still felt weird being so extremely civil to him, but it was what she had to do for the bet.

He gave half of a shrug in reply, choosing to sip at his drink instead. She had a growing suspicion that he had only gotten it to linger in here and bother her, but she had no real proof. Gulping down her own quickly, she contemplated leaving before deciding that would be stupid and pouring herself another glass. "It's almost been a week." When she gave him a questioning look, he elaborated, "Since we've started this bet, I mean."

She nodded in understanding, but then a song came to mind that made her smile. Ignoring his confused expression, she sand, "_It's been one week since you looked at me, cocked your head to the side and said, "I'm angry."_" She put the glass down to point at him, grinning at his puzzled frown. "_Five days since you laughed at me, saying, "Get that together, come back and see me."_"

Suddenly, Sly was there singing along, and strangely she didn't mind as she was in such a good mood and grinned as Shadow scowled behind their backs. "_Three days since the living room–I realized it's all my fault but couldn't tell you._"

"_Yesterday,_" she went on, Sly joining at the end,"_you'd forgiven me–but it'll still be two days 'til I say I'm sorry!_" She laughed with him then picked her cup back up as he attempted and failed to sign the fast-paced part of the song. It was rather difficult and could probably only be done by the seasoned singer, so she didn't tease him for it as she cleaned her cup and placed it in the dishwasher. The fox chuckled and bid them both good night after getting himself a beer, leaving her alone with Shadow once more but in a lot better mood. Turning to the hedgehog, Shadowpaw asked him, "Did you need to talk about something?"

"Is the idea of being friends that hard to accept?"

She blinked at the unexpected question, eyeing his serious expression. "Well, it's not _hard,_ but . . ." She shrugged when she couldn't find a satisfying answer. "I guess I was surprised, is all."

He snorted. "What, that I would ever have friends?"

"No," she corrected him, "that you would ever consider _me_ as one of them." Watching his frown to look for any changes in his expression, she finally told him, "But, if it helps, being friends doesn't sound too bad."

He didn't respond to that, simply standing there with the half-full glass in his hand, and she finally told him good-bye and walked out of the kitchen. As she walked back the way she came to make sure Feather was sleeping, she hummed to herself, "_I can't help it if I think you're funny when you're mad–trying hard not to smile, though I feel bad . . ._"

* * *

"Ah . . ." Rouge sank back in the couch and closed her eyes, enjoying her foot massage as she mumbled, "I should accept your bets more often, Knucklehead . . ."

"Oh, shut it," he grumbled, a humiliated blush on his face as he cursed his gullibility. "You tricked me into making that bet!"

She shifted slightly, accidentally bumping his nose with her foot. "I did no such thing. You're just _that stupid._" She smiled at his dark mumbles before piping up, "Oh, wait, move down a bit–ah,_ that's_ better. Ooh, that's heavenly." She closed her eyes and sighed blissfully. "When _you_ win a bet, you can ask for _me_ to do something."

He paused, a thought coming to mind, but he shook his head and continued massaging her feet, blush still on his face.

"Stupid bats, with their wings and big feet and big–_oww!_ What was _that_ for?!"

"Watch it, Knucklehead."

"But I wasn't going to say it that time!"

"Sure you weren't."

* * *

_Cast Commentaries_

Knuckles & Rouge: *arguing in background*

DL: Ahh, you've got to love "One Week" by The Barenaked Ladies. Such a wacky, confusing, crazy song! *clears throat* And now, finally, here is the commentary where we try to answer your questions! Unfortunately, it looks like I've lost most of my fans because of irregular updating, so I only have some of AmyAddict1's questions to answer. *sweatdrops* Yay . . .

Shadowpaw: *clears throat* _Anyways,_ let's see here . . . *mutters* _This_ one's from forever ago . . . "Did Shadowpaw forget that she was lost? Cause she could have followed Shadow to get out of the maze." Back from chapter eight, of course.

Kussia: She did forget she was lost in the confusion, but she eventually fond her way out, obviously. With a little secret and discreet help from moi, of course.

Shadowpaw: *snorts* Right, whatever. *reads on* "But what will happen if they both do win? Will they really just call it a draw? Or will something else happen?"

Shadow: Well, AmyAddict1 (what a weird penname . . . *smacked by Shadowpaw* Oww!), if we both win (or if neither of us loses, to be precise), there are no conditions we have to do, so essentially nothing will happen.

Shadowpaw: Of course, we won't call it a draw, with how stubborn we are. *grins* And _then_ I'll win!

Shadow: *rolls eyes and scoffs* Right.

Shadowpaw: *sticks tongue out* Alright, more questions! "What if they both crack at the same time?"

DL: Can we skip that one?

Kussia: Err, why?

DL: Because it's obvious that they'd have to both uphold their part of the bargain.

Kussia: Oh . . . that does make sense. Okay, let me see that– *snatches paper from Shadowpaw, ignores protests* "Is Shadowpaw becoming just a bit more girly?" *grins, turns to her* Yeah, Shadowpaw, _are_ you?

Shadowpaw: *blushes, glares at Kussia* No.

Kussia: That's a "yes", then!

Shadowpaw: What? No! I'm not–

Kussia: "Why is everyone on such a long coffee break? How long does it take to get coffee?"

Sly: When Cream has somehow broken the coffeemakers and you're forced to share a microwave and a fire-and-pan-system between _our_ crazy group of people . . . a long time. _So,_ *grins* does that mean you _missed_ us?

DL: *pushes Sly aside* Down, boy! Well, that's all the time we have today! Hope you guys read and enjoy this update, and please add any questions you have in your review. It's good to be back, ladies and gentleman! (Song cue!)

_~Back in black!  
I hit the sack!  
I've been too long–I'm glad to be back!~_  
"_Back in Black" by AC/DC_


End file.
